Musk Blasts Lord of the Rings Show for Lack of ‘Brave’ Male Characters: ‘Tolkien Is Turning In His Grave’
CARINA JOHANSEN/NTB/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk added himself to a growing chorus of voices taking issue with the new Lord of the Rings show, Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, released recently through Amazon Prime, owned by fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos.
In a series of Monday tweets, Musk claimed original Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien is “turning in his grave” over the adaptation of his work. Musk took particular issue with the show’s portrayal of male versus female characters.
“Tolkien is turning in his grave,” the Tesla and SpaceX founder wrote. “Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.”
Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2022
Galadriel refers to an elvish princess and central character portrayed by actress Morfydd Clark in the show. The character is portrayed by Cate Blanchett in the Peter Jackson-directed adaptations of Tolkien’s original trilogy.
Musk also used his Rings of Power review to renew his accusation of a mass of bot accounts on Twitter, an issue he has used to try and move away from a previous deal to purchase the social media platform.
“And 90% of my comments are bots,” Musk wrote, showing one account repeatedly promoting a YouTube link in the comments section on his original tweets.
And 90% of my comments are bots 🤖 pic.twitter.com/A7RKyNJZoR
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2022
Rings of Power has been met with controversy since debuting through Prime on Sept. 2. User reviews for the series were so poor that Amazon suspended reviewing for multiple days “to help weed out trolls,” according to a report from The Hollywood Report. On Rotten Tomatoes, the approval rating among critics sits at a healthy 84 percent, but the average for user reviews is far lower, sitting at 39 percent.
