Notoriety has good and bad sides, the stars will tell you.
The good sides are obvious. The bad sides are multiple but at the beginning are easy to ignore.
One of the downsides of fame are the rumors that come with it.
Then, celebrities must figure out how to manage or kill any rumors that can destroy their image.
These are the two faces of celebrity that Elon Musk is currently dealing with. The charismatic CEO of high-end electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (TSLA) has become the most influential boss in the world in a few months.
His influence has only grown since he announced his offer to acquire the microblogging site Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk now has over 91.1 million followers on the platform, significantly more than the population of Germany.
Many people write to him on social networks to work for him.
Fans are begging him to consider running for president in 2024 — Musk was not born on American soil, which disqualifies him.
For some, he is simply Superman.
But some rumors have gone so far that Musk has responded in an attempt to debunk them.
'This Is False'
And that's what he just did on two different subjects. The first relates to President Donald Trump.
The former Republican president had been permanently banned from Twitter after the company said he had advocated for violence during the riot on Capitol Hill on April 6, 2021, violating its content policies.
But Musk's acquisition of Twitter suggests Trump could be back on the platform again soon.
The tech tycoon said he is a "free speech absolutist" and indicated that the social network will be open to everyone, unless the posted messages violate the First Amendment.
The New York Post reports that Trump was among the people who encouraged Musk to make an offer to buy Twitter.
"Trump quietly 'encouraged' Elon Musk to buy Twitter: Truth Social CEO," The New York Post tweeted on May 6.
The newspaper quoted Devin Nunes, a former House GOP lawmaker who is chief executive of Trump Media & Technology Group.
"President Trump, basically before Elon Musk bought it, actually said to go and buy it because the goal of our company is really to build a community where people are in a family-friendly, safe environment,” Devin Nunes said during an appearance on Fox Business Network, The NY Post reported.
"That’s why we encouraged Elon Musk to buy it, because someone has to take on these tech tyrants,” Nunes said. “Donald Trump wanted to make sure that the American people got their voice back and that the internet was open and that’s what we are doing.”
Commenting on the Post's tweet, Musk denied this information and in the most scathing way possible.
"This is false," the billionaire wrote. "I’ve had no communication, directly or indirectly, with Trump, who has publicly stated that he will be exclusively on Truth Social."
A Date With an "It Girl"?
Trump, who now has his own social network, Truth Social, has already indicated that he would not return to Twitter.
The world's richest man and his mom, Maye Musk, also had to kill another rumor about Musk's private life.
Celebrity websites and the Post reported that an "It Girl" declined a date with Musk to the very exclusive Met Gala in New York on May 2.
"It girl, model, singer, songwriter, Sky Ferreira declines date with Elon Musk after being asked by his team at the 2022’s Met Gala," account Sugar Pop posted on May 5.
"There was no team," denied Maye Musk, Elon's mother who accompanied him at the event commented. "I was with Elon. So, NO😠."
A few hours later, the son himself intervened to put an end to the rumor.
"I didn’t ask anyone out or request particular seating," the billionaire said.
"This rumor originated from a parody account, but got picked up by real media & twitter trends (sigh)."
Such is the flip side of the celebrity coin.
Musk, 50, is single, after having announced in December the separation with Canadian singer Grimes with whom he has two children, a son X and a daughter Y. He also has 5 children -- Griffin, Xavier, Kai, Saxon and Damian -- from his first marriage.
