SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk sent a homophobic GIF to US transport secretary Sean Duffy, amid a spat over NASA contracts which also saw Musk also call Duffy a “dummy”.
Musk’s attack on Duffy came after the transport secretary and administrator of NASA said the space agency is “not going to wait for one company” as it surges ahead with its Artemis programme – which aims to put astronauts back on the moon – and suggested contracts held by Musk’s SpaceX may go to other firms, including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
Duffy claimed SpaceX, which has a $2.9 billion (£2.16 billion) contract to provide lunar landers to NASA, is “behind schedule”.
In a post shared on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter before Musk purchased it, Duffy wrote: “We are in a race against China so we need the best companies to operate at a speed that gets us to the Moon FIRST.
“SpaceX has the contract to build the HLS which will get U.S. astronauts there on Artemis III.
“But, competition and innovation are the keys to our dominance in space so @NASA is opening up HLS production to Blue Origin and other great American companies.”
In response, a disgruntled Musk hit back with all the refinement of a 12-year-old and shared a GIF asking “why are you gay?” alongside the caption: “Also, one question”.
The GIF was is from the infamous 2012 Morning Breeze interview between Ugandan LGBTQ+ rights activist Pepe Julian Onziema and journalist Simon Kaggwa Njala, which became the subject of various internet memes for the way in which Njala introduced Onziema then immediately asked: “Why are you gay?”
Also, one question pic.twitter.com/DhpuWoOTPt
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2025
That was not the only post Musk made attacking Duffy, in what we can only describe as throwing his spaceships out of his pram.
In a different post he wrote: “Sean Dummy is trying to kill NASA!”
In another, he created a poll and asked: “Should someone whose biggest claim to fame is climbing trees be running America’s space program? 
”. The poll is in reference to Duffy’s past as a champion lumberjack speed-climber and the answers users can select are “Yezz, chimps skillz rul!” and “Noo, he need moar brainz!” – currently the latter is winning.
“The person responsible for America’s space program can’t have a 2 digit IQ,” Musk wrote in a third post, in reference to Duffy.
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