About

Elon Musk Smoking Weed is a reaction image using a still of Elon Musk smoking a joint while being interviewed on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in early September 2018. The clip is used as both a reaction image and GIF as well as being referenced in memes, similar to the Hits Blunt meme.

Origin

On September 6th, 2018, Elon Musk appeared as a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, during which he joined Rogan in smoking a cannabis joint (shown below).

Spread

The clip went viral shortly after appearing in the episode and spread to multiple platforms and sites in the following days. For example, on September 7th, Redditor TheJacobus posted the still with the caption "Dude, what if… what if we launched my car into space" (shown below). Within eight hours, the post, titled "Ayylon Muskao," received more than 32,600 points (91% upvoted) and 520 comments on /r/dankmemes.^[1]

That day, Lushsux posted the still on Instagram with the question "Should I paint @elonmusk sMokiNG wEeD brO?"^[3] Meanwhile, a Perfection meme featuring the still image was submitted by Redditor Archer2408 to /r/memeeconomy^[2] (shown below).

Meanwhile, Redditor Matt32145 submitted the original still to /r/photoshopbattles,^[4] where it received more than 36,100 points (85% upvoted) and 560 comments, many of which contained photoshopped variations of the image (shown below).

NASA Safety Review

On November 20th, 2018, The Washington Post^[5] reported that NASA would be investigating the safety of SpaceX to “ensure the companies are meeting NASA’s requirements for workplace safety, including the adherence to a drug-free environment.” Many speculated that the review was launched in light of Musk smoking marijuana on the podcast. That day, Joe Rogan tweeted a link to an article about the review along with the message "LOL WUT" (shown below).^[6]

Search Interest

External References