Whoops! Elon Musk accidentally tweets personal cell number
If Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gives you his personal cell phone number and says, “Hey, give me a call,” the chances are pretty good that he has something important to say to you.
But, when he accidentally gives his number out to more than 16 million people, well, so much for Musk keeping his message discreet.
That’s what happened Tuesday, when Musk sent a message to John Carmack, chief technology officer of Oculus, the Facebook-owned company that makes virtual reality headsets and other VR equipment. Musk is known for being a little cheeky at times on Twitter, but it looks like he still needs to remember how to send a message to just one person and not everyone else in his Twitter network.
Instead of sending his message directly to Carmack, Musk tweeted it out to all of his 16.7 million followers.
Musk’s message immediately raised speculation about why he was giving Carmack his personal cell phone number.
Musk’s message to Carmack asked, “Do you have a sec to talk? My cell is … ” Musk then added his number, and the tweet got out long enough for at least a few of his Twitter followers to call it before Musk deleted the tweet.
His message got many thinking that he might want to lure Carmack away from Oculus and over to Tesla. After all, Tesla makes some of the most high-tech cars on the road today. Adding VR technology to its options isn’t too much of a stretch.
But, it might be something else in Carmack’s background that interests Musk, as Carmack pointed out in a tweet of his own in response to a Business Insider report: Carmack and Musk helped found the Commercial Spaceflight Federation in 2005.
Tesla didn’t immediately return a request for comment about why Musk was reaching out to Carmack.
Those who did call Musk’s number didn’t get Musk on the line. Instead, they got an example of Musk’s sense of humor: a recording of audio from the video game “God of War” made by the game’s creator, David Jaffe.
The audio is part of a secret recording that can be found by calling a phone number that shows up in the game.
That message, in case you want to hear what Musk had on his cell phone, can be heard by dialing 1-800-613-8840, which CNBC mentioned in a report. When you hear it, take pride in knowing that, as the message says, “By the Gods, you’ve done it! Somehow you’ve found your way here to me. I offer you my congratulations and my respect.”
Respect from Elon Musk, even if it’s in the voice of a video game character, has to count for something, right?