Tech mogul Elon Musk shared a blunt with Joe Rogan on his show on Thursday night, shocking Tesla investors in the process. The high-profile smoke session was live streamed via YouTube on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Musk also reportedly sipped whiskey during the recording of Rogan’s podcast, which included conversation about luxury watches, artificial intelligence, and Mars.
Rogan and Musk had been talking for about two hours when the show’s host pulled out a blunt to smoke, explaining that it was “marijuana inside of tobacco,” according to media reports.
“I think I tried it once,” Musk replied.
Before taking a hit, Musk clarified with Rogan that he would not be breaking the law.
“I mean, it’s legal, right?” he asked.
Musk then proceeded to take one long drag on the blunt, though some viewers were not convinced that he had actually inhaled.
Musk told Rogan that he did not use cannabis very much, saying that he did not “notice any effect” from smoking herb.
He then added that he was not personally against the use of cannabis.
“I know a lot of people like weed and that’s fine,” he added, “but I don’t think it’s very good for productivity.”
Musk had expressed similar sentiments about cannabis just three weeks earlier, in an interview with The New York Times.
“Weed is not helpful for productivity,” said Musk. “There’s a reason for the word ‘stoned’. You just sit there like a stone on weed.”
Before that interview, Musk had shaken financial markets with a tweet that indicated he wanted to take Tesla private, quoting a price of $420 per share for the buyout. The price chosen by Musk led many to speculate that he was making a reference to cannabis or was high when he posted the message. But he explained he had simply added a 20 percent premium to the trending share price and then rounded off the result.
“It seemed like better karma at $420 than at $419,” Musk said. “But I was not on weed, to be clear.”
Musk Waxes Philosophical
After getting high with Rogan, Musk mused on what it would take to make the world a better place for humankind.
“It sounds corny,” said Musk, “but love is the answer.”
Rogan asked Musk how he would accomplish such a feat, wondering if he had invented a machine for the purpose.
“Probably spend more time with your friends and less time on social media,” Musk said. “I think people should be nicer to each other and give more credit to others and don’t assume they’re mean until they’re actually mean. It’s easy to demonize people.”
Before ending the program nearly three hours after it started, Rogan told Musk he hoped the show had been a good experience.
“I hope I didn’t weird you out and I hope you didn’t get mad that we smoked weed,” Rogan said.
Fallout Was Quick
The response to Musk publically smoking weed came quickly. Even before the live stream was over, Musk was receiving feedback, telling Rogan that he was “getting text messages from friends saying ‘What are you doing smoking weed?'”
And hours later, shares in Tesla had dropped nine percent after Musk’s appearance with Rogan and a Friday morning announcement that the company’s chief accounting officer Dave Morton had resigned as of Tuesday. Morton had joined Tesla only one month earlier.