One is the richest and most famous tech entrepreneur in the world – the other is nationalist Scot who led his country for just 14 months.
Elon Musk and Humza Yousaf are from different countries, backgrounds, faiths and their politics are also largely polar opposite.
Yet they appear to have found common ground on one issue – a mutual distain for one another that boiled over once again over the weekend.
In his latest attack on the Glaswegian, Musk called Yousaf a ‘super racist… scumbag’ and effectively branded him a ‘dangerous race baiter’ before daring the first SNP leader to sue him.
Humza said on Friday that the billionaire is ‘one of the most dangerous men on the planet’, claiming he is stoking up civil war in the UK and Europe on Twitter/X.
But in fact the Tesla billionaire’s acrimony with Scotland’s former first minister goes back more than a year in a row over comments made by Humza in 2020 that resurfaced on Twitter last year.
In the speech, Mr Yousaf talked about other people’s surprise that he is often the ‘only non-white person in the room’ in most of the meetings he attends.
He added: ‘Why are we so surprised when the most senior positions in Scotland are filled almost exclusively by people who are white?
‘Take my portfolio, for example. The Lord President is white, the Lord Justice Clerk is white, every High Court judge is white, the Lord Advocate is white, the Solicitor General is white, the chief constable is white, every deputy chief constable is white, every assistant chief constable is white, the head of the Law Society is white, the head of the Faculty of Advocates is white and every prison governor is white.’
He made the speech during a debate to show solidarity with anti-racism campaigners following the death of George Floyd in the United States in 2020.
But Elon Musk branded Mr Yousaf a ‘blatant racist’ when video of the speech started re-circulating on social media last year. He was replying to an account named ‘End Wokeness’, which had shared the clip.
He was replying to an account named ‘End Wokeness,’ which had tweeted out a clip of the old Yousaf speech.
In April there was an attack on the SNP and a policy backed by Yusaf.
Mr Musk has signaled support for JK Rowling after she challenged Scotland’s new hate crime law which could see citizens arrested for addressing a transgender person with the wrong pronouns.
The Harry Potter author and prominent gender critic, who often refuses to use a person’s chosen pronouns in her frequent posts on X, formerly Twitter, challenged police to arrest her for her own apparent violations.
But Police Scotland confirmed that no action would be taken against Rowling, 58, despite thousands of complaints against her.
Mr Musk gave his support for the author with a fire emoji.
Hostilities between the two men have resumed in a big way in the last 96 hours with freedom of speech the battleground.
Last week Mr Musk claimed ‘civil war is inevitable’ because of recent race riots in Britain, prompting a rebuke from Downing Street and accusations from ministers that his words were irresponsible.
The Twitter/X owner has now made more 50 comments about crime, immigration and politics in Britain over the past week.
Mr Musk claimed ‘civil war is inevitable’ because of recent race riots in Britain, prompting a rebuke from Downing Street and accusations from ministers that his words were irresponsible.
Humza Yousaf then called Elon ‘one of the most dangerous men on the planet’ in an interview with CNN.
‘He is accountable to nobody, he has vast wealth at his fingertips, and he uses it for some of the most wicked evil I’ve seen’, he said.
He went on: ‘He has suggested, I think is hoping for, civil war in some parts of Europe including in the UK.
“And instead of using X as a platform for good, and using his enormous wealth for good, he is using it, I think, for the most wicked evil possible.
“And in terms of regulation let me say this is something that the Prime Minister Keir Starmer will now have to think seriously about what more needs to be done.
“We need to have better regulation to ensure that we don’t have the kind of disinformation that has run rampant in the last week be allowed to do so in the future with such devastating consequences.”
Mr Musk hit back at the former Scottish First Minister.
The world’s richest man wrote on Twitter/X: ‘He is super, super racist. Scotland gave him everything and yet he loathes white people.
‘This is obvious, because he has never complained about the race of any other country’s leadership. There are over 200 countries in the world, most of whom have single-race leadership. Why is he only attacking Scotland?’
And yesterday Mr Musk went for him again, calling him a racist again.
‘He’s obviously super racist against white people. I dare that scumbag to sue me. Go ahead, make my day’, he said.
‘Legal discovery will show that however big a racist he’s been in public communications, he is vastly worse in private communications’.
Humza has not responded personally – but his lawyer has.
Aamer Anwar said: ‘Anybody who goes on social media, even if they own the platform and thinks that free speech is absolute whether in the UK or USA, needs to think again,’ Aamer Anwar, Mr Yousaf ‘s lawyer, said.
‘Free speech carries responsibility and if you break the law there are consequences, as we have seen in recent days.
‘Elon Musk has effectively painted a target on Humza Yousaf ‘s back with his completely unacceptable, untrue and inflammatory comments.’
It now remains to be seen who will launch the next attack – and whether Humza will launch legal proceedings.