Elon Musk's lawyers warn HBO documentary defames him ahead of Venice premiere

Elon Musk's legal team sent a formal notice to Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions days before their documentary 'Musk' premiered at Venice Film Festival, claiming the film defames the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. The September 3 letter from attorney Alex Spiro accused Gibney of building the film around a predetermined conclusion rather than conducting objective inquiry, specifically citing a sequence alleging Musk used Starlink satellites to influence the 2024 US election results. The documentary, which premiered to strong reviews and a standing ovation at Venice, traces Musk's journey from Silicon Valley entrepreneur to world's first trillionaire while examining his personal life including his 14 known children. Variety called it a 'lacerating portrait' while Deadline described it as having 'thrashed' Musk as 'petty, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, cruel.' Musk has responded by attacking the film on X (the platform he owns) as a 'hit piece that misses.' The legal notice puts not only Gibney and Jigsaw Productions on notice but also distributors HBO, Bleecker Street and Universal, ordering preservation of all project materials under anticipated litigation. For Nigerian audiences using X/Twitter or following Tesla/SpaceX developments, this highlights ongoing tensions between media scrutiny of powerful tech figures and legal defenses against perceived defamation, particularly relevant as Starlink expands across African markets including Nigeria.

SOURCE: https://www.channelstv.com/2026/09/11/musk-threatens-legal-action-over-documentary/