Prince Harry Takes Sly Swipe At Tech Bros In Rare Podcast Appearance (Watch Out, Elon!)

Elon Musk has found himself in plenty of messy feuds, and it looks like there might be a new one on the horizon. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex has been a U.S. resident for five years, but he apparently isn't as keen on the idea of a tech oligarchy as many of his fellow Americans are. Based on his latest podcast interview, it seems like Harry believes that caring about the repercussions of one's actions is an important trait for someone running a social media platform. And, we know one CEO who isn't going to like that.

"How can we trust the people behind social media when we see the harm that it's created?" Harry asked on the October 29 episode of "Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know." It's a pretty fair question — if you aren't one of the people behind social media, that is. "I don't want to sit here being super critical of the characters or the personalities of the people that are making the decisions, but one thing that is seriously lacking is EQ — emotional intelligence," Harry said. As he mentioned the "people that are making the decisions," a subtle smirk crept up on his face. Knowing what exactly inspired the smirk would require a mind reader. Short of that, though, we can simply say that just maybe Harry was referring to Musk. 

"There's probably — arguably — quite a lot of IQ there. But, there's not enough EQ," Prince Harry asserted regarding those running social media. By now, we know that much of Elon Musk's success was thanks to his nepo baby status, and he certainly couldn't have done it without the fortune he was gifted. Still, there are frequent assertions from his fans that Musk succeeded because of his intelligence. Even so, Musk may not even know what EQ is, and it sure doesn't seem to be one of his priorities.

Harry certainly didn't call out Musk by name, however, and he was likely speaking about more than one person. Yet, despite Musk's seemingly self-imagined ties with the royal family, this actually isn't the first time there's been apparent tension between him and Harry. In 2024, while speaking at a conference, Harry seemed to take a swipe at how Musk changed X, (formerly Twitter) after he took over the platform in 2022. "It comes down to all of us to be able to spot the true from the fake," Harry explained, adding, "In an ideal world those with positions of influence would take more responsibility" (via The Independent). He noted, "For as long as people are allowed to spread lies, abuse, harass, then social cohesion as we know it has completely broken down." It's hard to imagine most people arguing with what Harry was saying, but perhaps Musk might take issue with it.