Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid bluntly shut down the father of Elon Musk after he compared far-right leader Tommy Robinson to Nelson Mandela.
Musk, 53, has drawn widespread criticism for his alleged propagation of false claims about grooming gangs on social media, and was blamed for stoking the flames of riots sparked by murders in Southport last year.
Prime minister Keir Starmer denounced the Tesla founder’s “lies and misinformation” as he accused him of “the elevation of the desire for retweets over any real interest in the safeguarding of children.”
On Wednesday (8 January), Reid and her co-host Ed Balls were joined by Musk’s father, Errol as he defended his son.
“I’m very interested, Errol, firstly in your analysis of your own son, Elon, is he a genius or completely bonkers?” Reid asked.
“Of course he’s a genius, that’s ridiculous, what a stupid question!” he hit back.
Reid continued: “Well, people have asked if he is in fact a madman and certainly there’s a degree of madness in being a genius.”
They went on to discuss Musk’s focus on UK politics as well as his troubled relationship with Reform leader Nigel Farage. Matters escalated when the father of the X/Twitter owner doubled down on his comparison between far-right leader Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley Lennon – and Nelson Mandela, before shifting to the issue of a Canadian referendum.
Reid called the comparison “utterly bizarre”, quickly shutting down the rant as she interjected: “Right, Errol, thank you very much indeed but I feel that we’re drifting slightly from the core issues for our audience.”
She then addressed viewers as she explained: “I think we slightly drifted away from how democracy works and the legal system in this country as well.”
Balls added: “I love the idea of somebody being relatively innocent.”
During his interview the billionaire’s dad passionately defended Robinson who has been amongst the most ardent in speaking about grooming gangs, and said he should be prime minister of the UK.
“I don’t see anybody weeping about any of the things Tommy Robinson has done,” he said.
“The government need to release Tommy Robinson [from prison]... it’s insane what’s happening in this country.”
