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Elon Muskthe richest man in the world and the president-elect Donald Trump“first mate,” revealed on Christmas night that he had been using the weight-loss drug Mounjaro while calling himself “Ozempic Santa” in a holiday-themed social media post.
The revelation also comes just weeks after he clashed with Trump’s nominee to head Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the widespread use and long-term benefits of GLP-1 inhibitors in the fight against obesity.
Posting on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk shared a picture of himself dressed as Santa next to a Christmas tree with the caption “Ozempic Santa”. The post quickly went viral, garnering over 200,000 likes and 26 million views.
“Like a cocaine bear, but Santa Claus and Ozempić!” Musk added in a separate tweet.
The mega-billionaire, who was tapped by Trump to lead the government’s DOGE efficiency advisory board, followed his announcement with a series of messages confirming that he had been taking a drug similar to Ozempic to lose weight.
“Technically, Mounjaro, but it’s not the same,” the Tesla CEO noted.
Mounjaro, like Ozempic and similar injectable drugs, is a GLP-1 inhibitor that was originally prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes to help control blood sugar levels and stimulate the body’s release of insulin. Millions of Americans have since taken the drug to successfully fight obesity, as studies have shown that overweight adults can lose up to 15 percent their body weight.
Musk continued with the state that he originally tried Ozempic to fight the bulge, but that high doses of the drug “made me fart and burp like Barney from The Simpsons.” He added that “Mounjaro appears to have fewer side effects and is more effective.”
Earlier this month, a rift between Kennedy and Musk appeared to be growing over the best way to make Americans healthier, given that 40 percent of American adults are now considered obese.
During appearance on Fox News Gutfeld! last monthKennedy argued that making GLP-1 inhibitors available to all overweight Americans would cost taxpayers trillions of dollars, arguing that it would be much cheaper just to provide citizens with healthier food.
“If we spent about one-fifth of that giving good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight,” he said at the time. Of course, this also came as him was infamously forced to pose with Musk and Trump as they dug into a post-election McDonald’s feast on the president-elect’s private jet.
While Kennedy continued to insist that lifestyle changes and greater access to organic foods are the keys to a healthier America, Musk argued this month that expensive weight-loss drugs will make the biggest difference. “Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life of Americans than making GLP inhibitors super cheap for the public,” Musk wrote December 11. “Nothing else comes close.”
A day later, Kennedy appeared to soften his stance on drugs a bit during an interview with CNBC. “The first line of response should be lifestyle,” he said he said. “You should be eating well, being careful not to become obese and those GLP drugs have their place.”
Meanwhile, this not the first time Musk has admitted to using GLP-1 inhibitors to control his weight. Back in 2022, the SpaceX founder was asked on social media how trimmer he suddenly looked after admitting that he didn’t like exercise and had bad eating habits.
“Fast,” he replied. “And Wegovy.”
It is not yet clear whether Musk will have more influence than RFK Jr. on who will make America healthy again, but Trump is he had already begun to bristle by mocking that owner X is really in charge and the “real president”.
During a speech at a right-wing conference on Sunday, the notoriously thin-skinned new president said Musk was “not taking the presidency” and “will not be president,” citing the fact that Musk was not born in the United States.