Elon Musk Threatens Director Alex Gibney with Legal Action Over Explosive ‘Hit Piece’ Documentary

 
Elon Musk hold a chainsaw as he arrives to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md.

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Elon Musk is threatening legal action over a new four-hour documentary, which he has blasted as “boring” and a politically-motivated “hit piece.”

Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro sent Alex Gibney’s production company Jigsaw Productions a letter putting them on “formal legal notice,” The Hollywood Reporter and People first confirmed this week.

The letter was sent to Gibney’s production on September 3. The documentary, titled Musk, premiered this week at the Venice Film Festival. It will be hitting theaters in October.

Spiro’s letter focuses on the suggestion that Musk somehow used his tech companies to influence the 2024 election in President Donald Trump’s favor.

“You are on notice, before release, that the insinuation is false, that the material refuting it is public, and that you chose not to be told the rest,” Spiro wrote.

In the documentary, Musk’s ex Ashley St. Clair insinuates at one point that Musk may have had a hand in influencing the election.

According to Variety, St. Clair said in the film that Musk left a Mar-a-Lago event early and “later told her he knew it would go in Trump’s favor.” St. Clair said Musk had “a degree of certainty” like “I had never seen before.”

St. Clair, who has a child with Musk, told Musk at one point that “she didn’t want to know more because she didn’t want to be ‘deposed,’” and he told her that was “wise.”

St. Clair also claimed Musk told he was going to “unleash the anomaly in the matrix” with his “10,000 lasers in space.”

Spiro said in his letter that Musk’s Starlink had nothing to do with voter tabulation so Musk had no way of influencing results.

“Starlink was not connected to vote tabulation. Election officials in multiple states, independent cybersecurity researchers, and fact-checkers publicly refuted the Starlink vote-rigging claim in November 2024, and nothing since has revived it,” he wrote, suggesting the filmmakers may be liable for defamation.

Spiro also accused the filmmakers for not directly engaging with Musk’s team.

“As you know, we have attempted to contact you multiple times and requested an opportunity to present the facts in the normal fact-checking process that is the hallmark of ethical journalism. You have refused to engage,” the lawyer wrote.

Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions hit back at Musk in a statement.

The statement reads:

Alex Gibney’s films are consistently recognized for their in-depth, fact-driven explorations of influential figures and corporations, coupled with his bold and engaging directorial style. This approach has garnered him international praise, an Academy Award among other accolades, and a reputation that *The Times of London* recently lauded as the “gold standard for fearless journalistic integrity.” The right to engage in open debate and fact-based examinations of powerful public figures is protected by the first amendment – something that should be recognized and defended by all Americans, including the associates of Elon Musk, who has proclaimed himself to be a “free speech absolutist.”

Musk has pushed back on some of St. Clair’s claims, including that she refused to sign a $40 million NDA with him.

“She was never offered that and has a history of making false claims,” Musk wrote on X in response.

The billionaire X owner also responded with a laughing face emoji over another claim from St. Clair in the documentary where she claims Musk told her he wants a “legion of children before the civil war.”

Musk has slammed Gibney’s work as “hit piece” and said it includes “a hit list of people who either have an axe to grind or don’t even know me (but still have an axe to grind).”

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Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.