Elon Musk Tells the Story Behind His Black Eye

Elon Musk is no stranger to rolling with the punches — and a recent one apparently landed.

Musk was sporting a black eye while standing next to President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Friday.

The bruise was visible beneath his DOGE hat, and the Tesla CEO was eventually asked about what happened.

“I was just horsing around with Little X and I said, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face,'” Musk told reporters.

“And he did. It turns out that even a five-year-old punching you in the face,” Musk said before Trump interjected.

“If you knew X, X could do it,” the president added.

X Æ A-Xii, Musk’s oldest child with the singer Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, has frequently been at his dad’s side since Trump retook office. “Little X,” as Musk calls him, has been in the Oval Office and on Capitol Hill. Reporters have also spotted Musk accompanying his child to Marine One, the presidential helicopter.

Musk joked that he “was nowhere near France,” a reference to the now-viral video of the interaction between France’s first lady Brigitte Macron and French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron. (Trump had been asked about the incident earlier during the extended Q&A with reporters.)

Musk stood beside the president as Trump praised the world’s richest man’s work through the Department of Government Efficiency. Friday is Musk’s last official day as a special government employee, and as a token of his appreciation, Trump gifted Musk a large key inside a wooden box.

The White House has repeatedly said that Musk is not the formal leader of the DOGE office, however, the billionaire was its de facto head and most visible champion.

Musk has grown close to Trump over the past year. He previously said that the president invited him to stay in the White House’s famed “Lincoln bedroom.”

The billionaire has reached the end of his 130-day limit as a temporary government employee. Musk has said that he would return his focus to Tesla, the largest company in his sprawling portfolio.