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Elon Musk denies getting turned away from exclusive German nightclub: ‘I refused to enter’

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO told his millions of followers that he “refused” to enter the exclusive nightclub because of a wall that had the words “peace” written on it

Johanna Chisholm
Monday 04 April 2022 13:24 BST
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Elon Musk dances at the opening of new European gigafactory

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Elon Musk took to his favourite medium over the weekend to decry that he had not, as some had been claiming, been denied entry at an exclusive nightclub in Germany, but in fact had “refused” to enter on his own accord.

“They wrote PEACE on the wall at Berghain! I refused enter,” the billionaire CEO for Tesla and SpaceX wrote on his personal Twitter account Sunday night, adding in a separate tweet to the thread that he “hated” the word.

“I hate the word. Those who do care about peace (myself aspirationally included) don’t need to hear it. And those who don’t care about peace? Well …,” he wrote.

Commonly referred to as a “techno temple”, Berghain is also notoriously known for its strict bouncers, earning it the reputation of being one of the most difficult nightclubs to get into.

It appears that, despite being the richest man in the world, Mr Musk failed over the weekend to curry favour with bouncers, who, as one revealed in their memoir about working at the world famous club, are known for trying to foster the “right mix” of clubbers.

“I don’t mind letting in the odd lawyer in a double-breasted suit with his Gucci-Prada wife. If they make a good impression, let them in,” wrote Sven Marquardt, a heavily tattooed guard to Berghain, in his 2014 memoir.

“We also take guys in masks and kilts, or Pamela Anderson blondes in run-of-the-mill high-street outfits who tag along with bearded blokes, licking the sweat off each others’ armpits. That, for me, is Berghain.”

Mr Musk, though he didn’t get to showcase his dance moves at the iconic Berlin nightclub this past weekend, was able to strut his moves while in Germany earlier this month where he was celebrating the opening of his new $5.5 billion (£4.2 billion) Tesla gigafactory.

The plant, which is slated to employ 12,000 people and produce 500,000 EVs a year, according to CNBC, is located just outside of Berlin in Gruenheide.

While presiding over the official opening of Tesla’s first manufacturing facility in Europe this month, Mr Musk, while dancing to EDM music, oversaw the delivery of the company’s first 30 German-made cars to clients and friends.

The plant was first announced in November 2019 with the plan to begin production by the summer of 2021, but due to a global pandemic that forced global supply chains to grind to a near halt and ongoing clashes with local campaigners and environmentalists, the Tesla’s first EVs are only this month starting to roll off the ramps.

Hours after sending the nightclub tweets, Musk was revealed to have bought a large stake in Twitter.

The billionaire has bought 9.2 per cent of the company, worth almost $3 billion, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr Musk is yet to publicly confirm or comment on the announcement.

The announcement sent Twitter’s shares up more than 25 per cent in premarket trading.

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