Elon Musk, wearing all black, had a visible bruise over his right eye while speaking at the Oval Office.
Asked what happened, Musk said his 5-year-old son punched him in the face.
“I said, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face.’ And, he did,” Musk said.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
Elon Musk is explaining the origin of his black eye.
During a press availability event alongside President Donald Trump May 30, the Tesla CEO appeared to sport a bruise around one of his eyes, telling reporters in the Oval Office that the contusion came from a play session with his 5-year-old son X Æ A-12 that got out of hand.
“I was just walking around with little X,” he explained, “and I said, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face.’ And he did.”
During the appearance—which coincided with Musk’s last day as a formal White House employee—the billionaire also made a brief reference to X’s mother, Canadian singer Grimes, noting that the boy was “with his mom right now.”
Days earlier, Musk, 53, confirmed he was stepping away from his role with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), writing on social media that he had fulfilled his duties as planned.
