Elon Musk Accuses Documentary Filmmaker Alex Gibney of Compiling a 'Hit List' Against Him

What Alex couldn’t have seen coming was a subsequent threat that was quick to arrive on the very same project that earned him the ovation, and from the very subject of his film, Elon Musk. Following the premiere of the documentary, Musk took to social platforms, publicly accusing Alex of being a “bitter old man” with “zero integrity” marking a saga that will continue to unravel in the coming weeks.

Table of Contents

1. What Happened at Venice

2. Musk's Response, in His Own Words

3. The "Hit List" Accusation, Explained

4. The Legal Threat

5. What's Actually in the Documentary

6. A Feud With a Three-Year History

7. Gibney's Side of the Story

8. Where and When You Can Watch It

9. Conclusion

What Happened at Venice

Director Alex Gibney’s, 225 minute long documentary titled “Musk” premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 with the past three years of work from Alex’s life on display. According to witness and reportings from the premiere, the documentary-film garnered a four-minute standing ovation along a warm wave of praise and positive early reviews, with critics even going as far as addressing the project as a “stroke of creative genius”. At the premier’s press conference, Gibney himself described his subject Elon Musk as an “extremely dangerous” individual, a description that quickly transpired into reality within the days that followed.

Musk's Response, in His Own Words

On the very next day following the premiere, Musk began firing back on X and continued posting raging remarks that ranged from being dismissive to outright hostile towards the documentary with contents of his posts being:

1. "Dogshit is worth more respect than Gibney."

2. "Gibney has zero integrity. Zero. Fortunately, his movies are boring af... It's a hit piece that misses, and makes the fatal sin of being boring for 4 hours."

3. "Gutless Gibney's fatal flaw of fabricating a false film."

Notably, there also is no clarity on whether these remarks originated following Musk entirely watching his documentary, or perhaps after even giving it a chance or simply lashing out rekindling a feud that has stretched over the past three years.

The "Hit List" Accusation, Explained

Musk’s claim of Gibney gathering the documentary as a “Hitlist” originated not from the contents of the film, but a specific post made by Musk as a reaction to the people Gibney had chosen to interview for the documentary, he stated "Gibney just assembled a hit list of people who either have an axe to grind or don't even know me (but still have an axe to grind). He has ZERO integrity. Horrible human."

According to IMDb credits cited in coverage of the film, the documentary features appearances from Justine Musk (Musk's first wife), Ashley St. Clair (who has a child with Musk), Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, Musk's father Errol Musk, former friend Sam Harris, journalists Kara Swisher and Zoë Schiffer, Samantha Power, Geoffrey Hinton, and Katie Drummond, among others. Musk’s accusation of it being a hitlist, stems from this very cast and fact that majority of the individuals chosen for the documentary, nearly carry personal grievances against him and would be likely to be biased instead of providing a balanced or objective account.

Notably, Musk also reposted an image on X that depicted the Democratic Party controlling a puppet labeled “Team Soros”, which in turn controlled another puppet labeled “Alex Gibney”, a subtle dig and message that meant to imply that the documentary was not an independent journalistic project but rather a politically orchestrated attempt to paint an image of Elon Musk.

The Legal Threat

While both Alex Gibney and Elon Musk had indulged in retaliatory posts and comments over social media, the dispute escalated when Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, sent a formal legal notice to Jigsaw Productions, Gibney's film company. The notice mainly focused on the film’s suggestion that Musk had used Starlink to influence the 2024 US Presidential election, while also criticizing the production for its failure to conduct thorough fact-checking with Musk’s team during the production and direction phases of the documentary.

As quoted in the notice, Spiro addressed the film as a project that did not start with an inquiry but rather a focused conclusion while further alleging that the film would possibly contain elements pertaining to his client that could be false in nature, or perhaps chosen falsely without investigation, especially considering that the film hadn’t been previously screened, fact-checked by Musk’s team or accepted the witnesses that themselves desired to be part of the documentary.

What's Actually in the Documentary

Alex Gibney’s “Musk” focuses on covering the life and early startup days of Elon Musk through his younger days at Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink and eventually X alongside the formation of his political alliance with the US President Donald Trump. The film attempts to describe Musk as a "power-hungry megalomaniacal conman with a god complex," while addressing Musk’s shift toward MAGA political alignment, and even touches upon the controversies surrounding Tesla's self-driving technology and his Mars ambitions, alongside a subtle focus on his relationships with several of the mothers of his 14 children.

A Feud With a Three-Year History

Alex and Musk’s clash hasn't simply begun with the release of the documentary, but actually dates back to 2023 when the project was initially announced. In October 2023, Musk had repeatedly called Gibney a “douche” on X, a tweet that received a one-word reply - “douché”. Around the same timeline, Musk also claimed that the final film would turn out to be a “Hit Piece”, a message that again received pushback from a Gibney associate who again received a quick retaliation a few days later reiterating the idea with Musk claiming that it would surely be a Hit Piece, as it could discomfort Gibney's Hollywood friends if it was rather made to present Musk in a positive limelight.

And if those exchanges were to hold value, this week's premiere received two men, one in the centre of the documentary and one behind it, with their own personal position and clashes set in prior.

Gibney's Side of the Story

Gibney, an Oscar-winning documentarian who has earned acclaim through his popular works and films covering topics such as Scientology and exiled Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has described Musk's trajectory as "the story of the confidence man." Back in 2023, before having actually begun formal work on the documentary, Alex had presented hesitation to Rolling Stone while talking about the documentary plans by saying, "There was a background thing for me going, 'Should I do it?' 'Should I not do it?' But more intensely for some months now." At that point, he said it was "too early to tell what the film is going to be", a description that continued to evolve as the filmmaking process unraveled in actual life while Elon Musk went onto his role of Twitter’s CEO before restructuring it to X and then consequently developing his alliance with Trump's White House.

Where and When You Can Watch It

Alex Gibney’s latest creation, "Musk" is scheduled for US theatrical release on October 16, 2026, with HBO set to air the documentary later this year following its theatrical run, providing the wider public opportunity to form their own judgement, independent of the allegations, defenses and characterization that both sides present until its official release.

Conclusion

Away from the insults and accusations, the story is simply the latest edition of a powerful, famous personality expressing unhappiness with how a documentary portrays him while a filmmaker who dedicated the past three years building his work, largely without his subject's cooperation, finds himself in the midst of legal threats. Elon Musk has taken an early step, delivering his own verdict even before the world has had a chance to experience Alex’s creation and now whether the October’s slated release aligns with Venice’s standing ovation’s or a dissatisfied subject's public statements, is set to become the ultimate outcome for this much-awaited documentary.