Talks of a fight between Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin are ramping up online, with the billionaire now adding some wild new terms to the offer.
Given Musk’s history on Twitter, you may have thought he was joking when he challenged the Russian president to a face off.
However, over the past day the SpaceX boss has continued to promote the idea – and now Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s space agency, has gotten involved.
Responding to Musk’s original tweet, which said the stakes were ‘Ukraine’, Rogozin shared lines from Alexander Pushkin’s poem ‘Tale of the priest and of his workman Balda’.
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He quoted in Russian, ‘You, little devil, are but young and frail. Do you compete with me? you will only fail; It is time and work wasted for you; Beat my brother, and you will see!’
The Tesla CEO took no time at all to reply, sharing a photoshopped snap of Putin riding a bear, alongside an image of himself using a Tesla flamethrower, writing, ‘I see you are a tough negotiator! Ok, you can have 10% more pay per view money.’
In a separate tweet, Musk added, ‘He can even bring his bear.’
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Those are some big words, ones that we doubt Putin is paying attention to given his continued attack on Ukraine.
But Rogozin found time to respond, sharing a previous post in which Musk said at least 50% of his tweets ‘were made on a porcelain throne’.
Alongside the screenshot, the space agency chief wrote, ‘Elon, get off the toilet, then we'll talk.’
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Your move, Musk.
Another person backing the fight is YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, who vowed to make the match happen – and he’s got some big ideas about who he wants for the undercard.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote, ‘10,000 retweets and I’ll make Elon Musk Vs. Putin boxing match happen.’
The retweet count stands at more than 4,000 at the time of writing, and you can bet that will continue to climb in the coming days.
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As for the supporting acts, Logan Paul’s baby bro suggested ‘Kanye West Vs. Pete Davidson’ and himself against Conor McGregor, both of which people would pay big money to see.
Of course, given the unlikelihood of any of them happening, not to mention Paul’s track record, it’s best to take what he says with a big pinch of salt; the same goes for Musk’s tweets.
It appears a lot of fans agree with this sentiment too, including this person who wrote, ‘You just can’t do that tho.’
Another said, ‘Elon wouldn’t lmao all ur paydays combined is pocket change for him,’ while a third quipped, ‘Might as well add Father Christmas vs Jesus.’
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Fight talk or not, Musk has made his views on Putin’s war very public, having earlier taken to Twitter to mock the boss of Russia's space agency.
The Tesla CEO also sent shipments of a satellite-based internet system to Ukraine to help make the internet service more reliable in certain areas which have been badly affected by bombing and fighting.
In response to Musk's support, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy video called the billionaire thanking him for his help and inviting him to Ukraine once the war is over.
On Twitter he wrote: 'Talked to @elonmusk. I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds. Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities. Discussed possible space projects. But I’ll talk about this after the war.'
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If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information
Topics: Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine
Daisy Phillipson