Alex Gibney Says Lawyer Threatened to Sue Over Elon Musk Documentary Account
Filmmaker Alex Gibney says Elon Musk's lawyer threatened to sue over one account in Musk, his nearly four-hour investigation into the tech billionaire. Gibney made the claim at Variety's Doc Dreams NYC, as reported by Variety.
The event was held at the Firehouse Cinema in downtown Manhattan. It is designed to highlight contenders for the Best Documentary Oscar. Gibney spoke in conversation with Ramin Setoodeh, Variety's co-president and co-editor-in-chief. Gibney said he began production on the film in 2022.
The threat concerns an account from Ashley St. Clair, a former far-right pundit. St. Clair had one of Musk's children after contacting him through Twitter direct messages. In her account, as the film presents it, Musk knew the result of the 2024 election early. Gibney said Musk's lawyer threatened to sue over that account.
Gibney also recounted a text Musk sent to St. Clair: "I found an anomaly in the matrix, and I have 10,000 space lasers that help me understand this." Gibney linked the line to Starlink, the satellite internet network run by Musk's company SpaceX.
Gibney went further on Musk's politics. He said he believes Musk backed Donald Trump in 2024 because Musk faced about 32 investigations by 11 federal agencies. One of those was a criminal investigation into fraud at Tesla, the electric carmaker Musk leads.
The film's central claims are Gibney's own, and he presented them on stage in New York. The lawyer's threat, as Gibney described it, is the detail most likely to draw attention beyond the festival circuit.
