Elon Musk Calls Kanye West A “World Champion Troll”

Elon Musk gave Kanye West a warm character reference on November 1. He called him a top-tier troll years after the rapper’s posts led to his suspension from Musk’s social media platform.

“Kanye has a good heart and is a world champion troll. (Hall of famer),” Musk wrote on X.

The reply came beneath a post recalling Ye’s earlier defense of Musk.

West’s support for Musk has its own history. On October 2, 2018, he visited the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and urged students to ease up on the Tesla chief. A video credited to Erica Heathcote through Storyful showed the rapper standing on a table while addressing the room.

Musk had already written a tribute to West for TIME’s 2015 list of influential people. Rather than focus only on his music, he praised the rapper’s confidence and willingness to challenge people, describing an artist who wanted his audience to question things.

“The dude doesn’t believe in false modesty, and he shouldn’t,” Musk wrote. Later in the tribute, he added, “He’s not afraid of being judged or ridiculed in the process.”

Their public history also included a much less friendly chapter. West’s account was suspended in December 2022 after he posted an image combining a swastika with a Star of David. Musk confirmed the suspension, which followed a violation of the platform’s rules against inciting violence.

X restored West’s account on July 29, 2023. At the time, the company said his account would not earn money from its monetization program, and ads would not run beside his posts.

The debate over Ye’s antisemitic remarks extended beyond social media. In January 2026, he bought a full-page Wall Street Journal ad to apologize for his behavior and renounce his past praise of Hitler. He attributed his actions to an undiagnosed brain injury and untreated bipolar disorder.