About

Elon Musk Marquis de Sade Outfit refers to a photograph posted to Twitter in 2012 by Elon Musk in which he is wearing a Marquis de Sade costume to a party and standing next to a painting with the word "Liberty" on it. The tweet reads, "Wore Marquis de Sade outfit for a party last night. Was v popular with women who'd read 50 Shades :)." The image became the subject of memes over the following years, with some finding it cringeworthy. Although the tweet remains up, the image under it is no longer available, inspiring memes about Musk trying to hide the photo from the world.

Origin

On June 18th, 2012, Elon Musk posted a photo of himself to Twitter^[1] in which he has long, dark hair and is wearing a long leather jacket, standing next to a poster that reads "Liberty," writing, "Wore Marquis de Sade outfit for a party last night. Was v popular with women who'd read 50 Shades :)" (photo shown below, left). The post gained over 680 likes in 11 years. The tweet is still available, although the photo is not attached to it (shown below, right).

Spread

On June 19th, 2012, Forbes^[2] published an article about the post. The photo started to become the subject of memes over the following years. For example, on October 19th, 2018, Tumblr^[3] user seinaet posted an I can be your angle meme using the photo (shown below).

In July 2021, interest was renewed in the photo and post after people became aware that the photo no longer appeared when accessing the tweet. On July 17th, 2021, iFunny^[4] user NoIlligalActivityHere posted the photo along with the caption, "It's been 9 years since Elon Musk had this photo permanently removed from the internet forever," garnering over 75,000 smiles in two years (shown below, left). On July 18th, Tumblr^[5] user kaijuno posted side-by-side photos of Musk and a katana wielding man who resembles Ben Shapiro, writing, "Young Ben Shapiro vs 2012 Elon Musk who would win," garnering over 34,000 notes in two years (shown below, right).

The Tumblr post was recreated and reposted by numerous accounts, including Twitter^[6] user @JUNlPER that day, garnering over 123,000 likes in two years. It was posted to /r/tumblr^[7] on July 19th, garnering over 6,800 upvotes in two years. On July 11th, 2022, a Redditor reposted the "It's been 9 years" meme to /r/therewasanattempt,^[8] garnering over 43,000 upvotes in a year.

On January 6th, 2023, Twitter^[9] user @kthorjensen quote-retweeted Musk's original post with the photo, writing, "Lmao how had I not heard he got this incredibly cringe photo removed," garnering over 16,300 likes in six months. On July 26th, Redditor u/ARES_GOD posted a meme using the photo to /r/dankmemes,^[10] garnering over 300 upvotes in under six hours (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References