The Offspring guitarist Noodles recently responded to a decision Elon Musk made in 2022 during the Russian-Ukrainian War. According to Musk’s biography, which is written by Walter Isaacson and is set to be released on September 12th, he denied an emergency request from Ukrainian government authorities to use Starlink near Crimea. This decision prevented them from launching a submarine drone attack against the Russian navy. The Kyiv Independent summarized the incident in a tweet on September 7th:
“Elon Musk told his engineers to turn off Starlink near Crimea last year to prevent a Ukrainian submarine drone attack against the Russian navy, CNN reported on Sept. 7, citing an excerpt from an upcoming book by Walter Isaacson.”
Noodles quote tweeted Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov’s comment regarding the matter, calling Musk an ‘authoritarian’ and mentioning his failure to assess the situation:
“Elon Musk is an authoritarian, so of course he sides with Putin, and against nascent democracies that block Putin’s plans to re-establish the Soviet Union. Putin’s navy is a legitimate military target, the civilians, children, targeted by that navy are not.”
The guitarist also called Russian President Putin a ‘murderous dictator’ and claimed that Elon Musk’s decision made him complicit:
“By blocking Ukraine’s attack on Putin’s navy, Musk is protecting the forces that have been sending missiles into civilian neighborhoods killing innocent men, women, & kids. Elon Musk is empowering a murderous dictator. Musk War Criminal.”
In response to the matter, Musk tweeted on September 7th and explained his intention to remain impartial:
“There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”
Throughout this period, many have been vocal and even declared their departure from the platform. Notable figures like Elton John, Toni Braxton, and Moby are among those who left. Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor told Hollywood Reporter on November 19th that social media and ‘the rich arrogance’ have negatively impacted his mental health:
“I’m about to depart. We don’t need the arrogance of the billionaire class to feel like they can just come in and solve everything. Even without [Musk] involved, I just find that it has become such a toxic environment. For my mental health, I need to tune out. I don’t feel good being there anymore.”
Below, you can find Noodles’ and Elon Musk’s tweets.
By blocking Ukraine’s attack on Putin’s navy, Musk is protecting the forces that have been sending missiles into civilian neighborhoods killing innocent men, women, & kids. Elon Musk is empowering a murderous dictator. #MuskWarCriminal
— Noodles 🍜🎸🤓 (@TheGnudz) September 9, 2023
There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol.
The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor.
If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2023
