Elon Musk Shirtless Harkonnen Photo

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About

Elon Musk Shirtless Harkonnen Photo refers to a viral photograph of Elon Musk in which he resembles a Harkonnen from the Dune film series. In the image, Musk is shown shirtless on a beach, appearing to wear a wet black towel or long shorts. He's seen as more obese than in shirtless photos taken of him in 2022 while on a boat in Mykonos, Greece. The photo was proven to be AI-generated after it circulated on Twitter / X in April 2024 and was used in memes.

Origin

On April 24th, 2024, X^[1] user @theliamnissan tweeted an image of a shirtless Elon Musk on a beach wearing long, black shorts. The user captioned it, "Wow," receiving over 21,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Per an investigation from Know Your Meme, the image was revealed to be AI-generated via multiple tells, including a poorly rendered right hand (details shown below).

Spread

The image was spread in viral quotes and exploitable usage going into late April 2024. For instance, on April 25th, 2024, X^[2] user @superloafcat tweeted the image, writing, "concerning in a good way," receiving over 4,000 likes in a day (shown below, left).

Later on April 25th, X^[3] user @quebecween tweeted the image, saying, "new elon photo just dropped," gaining over 19,000 likes in a day (shown below, right).

During the same timeframe, comparisons between Musk and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from Dune surfaced, like a Photoshop edit posted by X^[4] user @RealYouTubeKids on April 25th, 2024, receiving over 1,000 likes in a day (shown below).

The memes spread to other social media sites as well, evident in a collab post shared by Instagram^[5] users @shitheadsteve and @moistbuddha on April 25th that read, "His transformation into Baron Harkonnen is nearly complete," receiving over 123,900 likes in a day (shown below, left).

The image was also posted to /r/nflcirclejerk by Redditor^[6] Ok-Tennis330 on April 25th, 2024, who made a joke about the 2024 NFL Draft, earning over 1,200 upvotes in a day (shown below, right).