Elon Musk Escalates Jeff Bezos Feud by Slamming 'Lord of the Rings' Series: 'Tolkien Is Turning in His Grave'

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty; Amazon Prime

Elon Muskdoesn’t have many nice things to say about Amazon’s newLord of the Rings series amid his ongoing feud withJeff Bezos.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO, 51, took to Twitter on Monday to show his displeasure withThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which began streaming on Thursday.

“[J. R. R.] Tolkien is turning in his grave,” Musktweeted, continuing his review in a second post: “Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.”

His Tweets drew criticism from a number of people on social media, including author Neil Gaiman, whose book seriesThe Sandmanis now a hit Netflix show.

In response to Musk,anothersocial media pointed towards the negative reactions to the series' diverse casting, which many have called racist.

“I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to reacting to art, but if you don’t like #TheRingsOfPower because it’s ‘too woke,’ racism and sexism are really the only plausible explanations,” the social media user wrote.

However, in response to another message about the topic, Musktweetedon Tuesday, “Those who claim any criticism of Rings of Power means you’re racist are outing themselves as closet racists.”

The series premiered to astronomical ratings, drawing 25 million viewers on its first day of release, a record for Amazon Prime Video, according toCNBC.

“Go middle-earth,” Bezos, who has not publicly responded to Musk,wroteon Twitter in response to the good news.

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The two billionaires, who are engaged in a space race with their respective companies, have long engaged in an unfriendly back-and-forth discourse.

Bezos' Blue Origin filed a lawsuit last year after NASA awarded SpaceX a multibillion-dollar lunar lander contract to send humans back to the moon.

Blue Origin sent a50-page complaint to the Government Accountability Officethat accused NASA of “moving goalposts” for the companies competing fora $2.89 billion lunar lander contract to transport astronauts to the moonas early as 2024, which eventually went to SpaceX.

“Their decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America’s return to the Moon,” Blue Origin said in a statement at the time.

In response to aNew York Timesreporter’s Tweet about the complaint,Musk mockingly tweeted: “Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol.”

In 2019, Musk also called out Bezos for being a “copycat” onTwitter, after Bezos launched a network of satellites shortly after Musk himself debuted prototypes later dubbed Starlink.

Elon Musk (L); Jeff Bezos.Pascal Le Segretain/Getty; John Shearer/Getty

Shortly after being namedTime’sPerson of the Yearin 2021, Musk — who alsoedged outBezos to become the world’s richest person earlier that year — took another swipe at his fellow billionaire.

“[He] doestake himself a bit too seriously,” Musk told theFinancial Timesin an interview published that December. “In some ways, I’m trying to goad him into spending more time at Blue Origin so they make more progress. As a friend of mine says, he should spend more time at Blue Origin and less time in the hot tub.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris now streaming on Prime Video.

source: people.com