#Elon Musk’s die-hard fans believe the wacky billionaire can do no wrong

His legions of sci-fi-obsessed stans — they’re mostly men — congregate online in forums such as the subreddit r/ElonMusk, which has 210,000 followers, and Twitter accounts like “Elon’s World” and “Teslarati.” They’ll take time off from work to watch the SpaceX launch, vociferously defend their leader online against what they see, in the words of one fan, as “garbage media attention,” and sing his praises even when stocks dip precipitously.

To the “Musketeers,” as his die-hard fans are sometimes known, Musk can do no wrong — whether he’s pledging “full support” to rapper Kanye West’s presidential bid or cheekily selling silky, red short shorts for the price of $69.420.

And that’s just this week’s antics.

“Even though the guy seems insane at times, there’s a super-genius aspect behind him and his beliefs,” said Keith Muelas, 27, a Seattle-based video game developer who saved up for six years to be able to put down a deposit on a Tesla Model 3. Musk, he said, is “advancing Earth to protect the future of humanity.“

The South-African born Musk’s businesses include Tesla, the electric-car company; SpaceX, a space exploration enterprise that recently launched the Falcon 9 rocket into orbit; and the Boring Company, whose stated mission is to build tunnels but is better known for producing flamethrowers wielded by uber popular YouTubers such as David Dobrik.

Fanboys of the 49-year-old billionaire businessman include celebrities such as Joe Rogan, who has invited the “super genius” onto his podcast twice; Pharrell Williams, who has also publicly called Musk a “genius”; and Kanye West, who’s so proud of his bromance with the inventor, he recently tweeted a pic of them in color-coordinated outfits.

“There’s a ‘Nerd King’ aspect,” Muelas said, when asked to define Musk’s je ne sais quois. And the dishy sexploits of the playboy scientist have only added to his mystique among young, single men: On Tuesday, Johnny Depp’s lawyers accused Depp’s then-wife Amber Heard of having a threesome with Musk and Cara Delevingne as part of the actor’s libel case against Britain’s The Sun. Musk has denied the affair — although the rumored ménage à trois has only burnished his image.

Although he doesn’t proclaim to be an objectivist, Musk sure seems like a character straight out of an Ayn Rand novel. Viewed through that lens, his exploits aren’t bizarre PR stunts, but rather a kind of rugged, anti-establishment individualism. In a typically head-scratching — and apparently illegal — move, Musk recently named his seventh child, a son with the musician Grimes, “X Æ A-12 Musk.” (The couple later changed it to “X AE A-XII” to comply with California law.)

Ultimately, though, Musk is living out the ultimate dude fantasy: becoming an astronaut.

“There was this young guy who wanted to go out to space. It sounds like something a little kid would say, like, ‘I want to have my own company and go out to space,’ ” said Steven Papadakis, 40, an Astoria resident with his own real-estate investment business. ”But he’s really making it happen. I was always rooting for him in the back of my mind.”

So what if his “bulletproof” Cybertruck can’t withstand a metal ball being thrown at it? Or that Tesla has had difficulty churning out enough cars to break even?

In the eyes of Papadakis, such shortcomings just serve to underscore Musk’s “underdog” status.

His supporters view him as a tech punk unafraid to put himself on the line. “When he was pushing for California to open up, he showed up at the factory to get arrested if the cops came,” said John, 33, a dad who works in tech and runs the Twitter account, “Tesla Owners Silicon Valley.

“I’m not saying he’s a Mother Theresa, but he definitely cares about his employees.” (In May, Musk, who has called the coronavirus lockdown “fascist,” reopened Tesla’s Bay Area factory in defiance of the lockdown.)

John, who said he’s “heavily invested” in Musk’s companies and drives a Model X, couldn’t resist buying those short shorts that read “S3XY” along the butt and sold out in less than five minutes earlier this week.

He and his friends plan on wearing them, he said, to the next Tesla shareholder meeting.

“It’s a joke,” he said, although he believes Musk — and his Musketeers — will have the last laugh.

“It’s a ‘screw you’ to the short-sellers that were giving him gray hairs for the last three years.”