Colbert Mocks Musk’s U-Turn on Trump: ‘The Ketamine Has Worn Off’
A damning New York Times piece alleged that Musk used drugs extensively during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Stephen Colbert mercilessly mocked the breakdown in relations between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, even poking fun at the billionaire’s alleged drug habit.
On Wednesday night’s Late Show, the host gleefully skewered the once-close bond between the president and the Tesla CEO, which appears to have collapsed in a cloud of disdain towards Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“There is now trouble brewing between the president and former first buddy Elon Musk,” Colbert announced. “No, no, I’m starting to worry that two narcissistic megalomaniacs with a total inability to see value in other humans might have a hard time making friends.”
Colbert was reacting to Musk’s latest tirade on X, where the tech billionaire blasted Trump’s so-called spending bill as “a disgusting abomination.”
The audience roared as Colbert quipped: “Apparently, the ketamine has worn off.”
Reports suggest Elon Musk has used ketamine, and other drugs, whilst working alongside Trump.
Alison Robbert/AFP via Getty Images
The jab comes after Musk faced questions over his fitness to serve in the federal government, with allegations of drug use levied against him. He responded on X, slamming a damning New York Times piece that claimed he had abused various substances, including ketamine, ecstasy, and hallucinogenic mushrooms, during the 2024 Trump campaign.
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“I am NOT taking drugs! The New York Times was lying their ass off,” he wrote.
“I tried *prescription* ketamine a few years ago and said so on 𝕏, so this not even news. It helps for getting out of dark mental holes, but haven’t taken it since then.”
Elon Musk has torched Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill."
Tom Brenner/The Washington Post via Getty
Meanwhile, Musk’s budget criticisms have grown louder in recent days. The scorned DOGE architect has warned that the $2.5 trillion legislative package would “massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit” and saddle Americans with “crushingly unsustainable debt.”
“American citizens are already used to unsustainable debt,” Colbert deadpanned. “That’s why they buy their parmesan-crusted Philly Cheesesteak Papadia on Klarna.”
The Late Show host also mocked Musk’s sudden realization that perhaps aligning with Trump wasn’t the most economically deft move.
“Oh my God,” Colbert riffed, pretending to be a hungover Musk. “‘I spent $300 million to elect who? I have how many children? That can’t be their names!’”
To drive the point home, Colbert aired a recent Musk interview with CBS News where the billionaire tried to play coy about his giddy relationship with the president. “It’s not like I agree with everything the administration does,” he said.
“Yeah, Musk doesn’t think Trump was right about everything… His hat does," Colbert responded, before showing a photograph of the billionaire wearing a cap with the words ‘Trump was right about everything’ emblazoned across it.
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