It was uncooked and sometimes tense.

The former tv anchor Don Lemon’s wide-ranging, testy interview with Elon Musk was launched on-line on Monday morning, touching upon subjects together with politics, significantly the billionaire’s latest assembly with former President Donald J. Trump; Mr. Musk’s reported drug use; hate speech on X, the social media platform previously often known as Twitter that he now owns; and extra.

The interview was meant to be the debut episode of a brand new discuss present in a partnership between Mr. Lemon and X, however Mr. Musk called off the deal a day after filming the hour-plus interview at Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. The first episode of “The Don Lemon Show” was streamed on YouTube and posted to Mr. Lemon’s account on X.

In the interview, Mr. Musk stated that earlier this month he was having breakfast at an unnamed good friend’s dwelling in Florida when Mr. Trump got here by.

When requested what was mentioned, Mr. Musk stated that Mr. Trump did a lot of the speaking and that the previous president didn’t ask for cash or a donation towards his marketing campaign. Mr. Musk additionally stated he wouldn’t mortgage Mr. Trump cash to pay his authorized payments.

While Mr. Musk stated he wouldn’t donate to any candidate, he stated he would think about endorsing one within the remaining stretches of the race.

“I don’t know yet, I want to make a considered decision before the election,” he stated, and famous that he was leaning away from President Biden. “I’ve made no secret of that,” he added.

If Mr. Musk endorses a candidate, he stated, he would make an in depth rationalization for his alternative.

Elsewhere within the interview, Mr. Musk was adamant that he doesn’t abuse medication, and spoke about his prescription for ketamine for a “negative chemical state.”

“If you’ve used too much ketamine, you can’t really get work done, and I have a lot of work,” he stated. He famous that 16-hour workdays had been “normal” for him, and he hardly ever took weekends off.

Mr. Musk appeared visibly irritated by a direct line of questioning about him showing to endorse an antisemitic conspiracy concept on X.

“I don’t have to answer these questions,” he stated. “I don’t have to answer questions from reporters. Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise, I would not do this interview.”

Mr. Musk additionally appeared to skirt questions on whether or not he had a accountability to average hate speech on the platform, and why sure posts had not been eliminated.

“If something is illegal, we’re going to take it down,” Mr. Musk stated. “If it’s not illegal, we’re putting our thumb on the scale and we’re being censors.”

The present arrived Monday morning after a heavy promotional push from Mr. Lemon, who teased the interview in a number of locations final week, including “The View,” within the days after Mr. Musk abruptly scrapped X’s partnership with the previous CNN host.

Before its launch, the lads had been at odds over how the interview went.

Mr. Lemon said in a statement final week that his questions had been respectful and lined many topics. “We had a good conversation,” Mr. Lemon stated. “Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me.”

Mr. Musk, alternatively, felt in another way. In a put up on X, Mr. Musk said that Mr. Lemon’s show lacked originality.

“His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” Mr. Musk wrote.

While X had initially agreed to financially assist Mr. Lemon’s present, Mr. Musk’s determination to cancel the partnership blindedsided salespeople at X, and it was the most recent self-inflicted enterprise disruption at X in latest months.

In November, Mr. Musk boldly told advertisers not to spend on his platform, utilizing an expletive to dismiss them, and accused them of “blackmail” after he appeared to endorse an antisemitic conspiracy concept on X, which Mr. Lemon resurfaced throughout Monday’s present. Mr. Musk’s inflammatory feedback brought on quite a few corporations to pause their advertising campaigns on X.