Stephen King says he still owns a Tesla and admires Elon Musk, but paying $44 billion for 'a social media plaything' was ridiculous

• Stephen King said he admires Elon Musk, but not his work at Twitter.
• The author said Twitter has "gotten very strange" since Musk took over.

Stephen King said there are "a lot of things to admire" about Elon Musk, but he hasn't approved of the billionaire's Twitter takeover.

"$44 billion for what's essentially a social media plaything is a little bit on the ridiculous side," the author told Slate regarding Musk's Twitter purchase in an interview that was published on Friday. "The whole thing is a tempest in a teapot," he added.

In the interview, King admitted that he owns a Tesla and he thinks it's a "great car."

"I've owned one almost since the very beginning," King said. "And I think that Elon Musk made the whole electric car stuff serious."

The horror author also said he's "delighted" with Musk's Starlink satellite network and the billionaire's donation to Ukraine, but he's found some of his moves at Twitter to be a bit of a "head-scratcher" — including Musk's decision to subscribe him to Twitter Blue without his permission.

"I don't really understand it," he told Slate.

King said he thinks Twitter is a great site for gossip and dad jokes, but he doesn't take the site too seriously and added that the social media platform has "gotten very strange" since Musk took over last October.

"You know, there are a lot of people that I don't follow who are now part of my Twitter feed," King said in the interview. "Every day I get tweets from Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Lauren Boebert, a number of different people who are just sort of like all-in on Trump to the extent that it's actually sort of amusing."

Musk and King have a complicated relationship. Only a few years ago the two men appeared friendly on Twitter. In 2019, King praised Musk for Tesla's "fart" feature and Musk thanked him for owning a Tesla. More recently, King has taken to Twitter to criticize Musk's work at the social media company.

After King called Musk a "terrible fit" for Twitter last year, Musk said he welcomes the author's suggestions and said he'd invited him to Twitter's headquarters.

"Stephen King is one of most creative people on Earth," Musk tweeted in November. "While I may not agree with everything he says, I do actually want to hear it."

King told Slate he doesn't plan to leave Twitter anytime soon, but he's still averse to the idea of subscribing to Twitter Blue.

"But the thing is, you know, not to brag or anything, but I get paid to write," King said. "I don't have to pay to do it."

Musk and King did not respond to Insider's request for comment ahead of publication. Twitter responded with an automated message.

Read King's full interview with Slate on its website.