Elon Musk Turns 51, and the Internet Celebrates With Memes
Elon Musk birthday memes are all over social media on Tuesday, June 28, as the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder turns 51 years old. Here are the top ones.
June 28 2022, Published 12:33 p.m. ET
The wealthiest man in the wold turned 51 years old on Tuesday, June 28, and fans have been celebrating Elon Musk’s birthday with a ton of silly memes.
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 1971. And in the half-century since, he has become CEO of Tesla, launched SpaceX, gathered more than 100 million followers on Twitter, proposed a buyout of that social media platform, and accumulated a net worth currently in the neighborhood of $230 billion.
Here’s how his devotees are honoring him on Twitter…
Fans are celebrating Elon Musk’s birthday with meme images of the billionaire.
Elon Musk and mother Maye Musk
On Twitter, fans have been sharing memes depicting Elon Musk as a pioneer of spaceflight, a savior of Twitter, a hero of Dogecoin, or just a goofball.
His family members are also marking the day on Twitter.
The Tesla CEO’s immediate family hasn’t missed the occasion either. Maye Musk, Elon’s mother, shared a birthday message on Tuesday as she tweeted a photo of the future SpaceX founder in 1996. “Happy birthday @elonmusk,” she wrote. “Thank you for making the world a better place in the past quarter-century. #ProudMom.”
Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother, also wished Elon a happy birthday on Twitter, uploading a photo of the two of them laughing as children. “Happy birthday bro,” he wrote. “Thank you for 50 years of laughs and love @elonmusk.”
And Tosca Musk, Elon’s sister, tweeted a photo of a young Elon holding her when she was a baby — although the infant Tosca looks a little unnerved in the photo. “Happy Birthday @elonmusk,” she wrote. “Thanks for always being there to hold me up. Love you!”
Maye replied to that post with laughing emojis, adding, “Your two brothers always teased you. Love my three children so much. Happy birthday, Elon.”
Now half a century old, Musk isn’t interested in living “for a really long time.”
This March, Musk gave his thoughts about his lifespan in an interview with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner for Insider. Musk said that he wasn’t interested in making his life longer. “I don’t think we should try to have people live for a really long time. It would cause asphyxiation of society because the truth is, most people don’t change their minds. They just die. So if they don’t die, we will be stuck with old ideas, and society wouldn’t advance.”
Musk also observed that the world has a “gerontocracy” issue, with “extremely old” people leading the world. “And it is just impossible to stay in touch with the people if you are many generations older than them,” he explained. “For a democracy to function well, the leaders must be reasonably in touch with the bulk of the population. And if you’re too young or too old, you can’t say that you will be attached.”
So, how long would Musk like to live? Long enough to see his SpaceX vision realized, as he told Döpfner. “I certainly would like to maintain health for a longer period of time,” he said. “But I am not afraid of dying. I think it would come as a relief.”