Musk slams '60 Minutes' for editing comments about chairman

December 11, 2018 12:00 AM

Angus Whitley

60 MINUTES/TWITTER

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk criticized “60 Minutes” for editing out parts of his responses to questions about losing the role of chairman last month.

Musk said in a series of tweets that the CBS Corp. program cut some of his comments about relinquishing the job as part of his settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The CEO called for “60 Minutes” to release the full exchange he had with anchor Leslie Stahl about being replaced by Robyn Denholm, who was already a director on Tesla’s board.

According to Musk, “60 Minutes” didn’t air a comment in which he downplayed the role that a chairman plays by saying that it’s a non-executive job, he wrote in one post. He said Tesla will “retire” that title in three years.

Elon Musk had to step down as Tesla's chair. So did he lose power? He handpicked his successor, and when asked about her watching over him, he says: “That's not realistic… I'm the largest shareholder in the company.” Does he want to be chair again? “No.” https://t.co/hHN5M5JjZW pic.twitter.com/Dmchut0M5Q
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) December 10, 2018

Musk also tweeted that “60 Minutes” edited out a comment he claims to have made that qualified his statement about how much control he has over Tesla. When Stahl told him that there was an impression Denholm had been thrust into the role of his “babysitter,” Musk disagreed.

“It’s not realistic in the sense that I am the largest shareholder in the company,” Musk said in the segment that aired Sunday. “I can just call for a shareholder vote and get anything done that I want.”

In one of his tweets Tuesday, Musk wrote that “60 Minutes” cut that he said he could do whatever he wanted, provided that he had the support of Tesla shareholders. A Tesla spokeswoman provided Bloomberg News with what the company said was a more complete transcript of Musk’s comments.

A CBS spokesman wrote in an email Tuesday that the network released a transcript of what was broadcast and didn’t immediately comment on Musk’s tweets.

Musk relinquished the post of Tesla chairman last month under a settlement with the SEC over his tweeting in August about trying to take Tesla private.