From a famous outspoken person, Elon Musk suddenly became less noisy in the media.

In April 2023, just months after Elon Musk bought Twitter—now renamed X—the outspoken, outspoken billionaire embarked on a media “interview tour.”

Two years later, Musk continues to appear in the media—but now he chooses to do so in places that don’t bother him, often with hosts who praise him rather than asking serious questions about his government work.

Since joining the Trump administration in his official capacity, Musk has appeared on Fox News five times. He has also been on podcasts with Joe Rogan and Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, where they praise him and don’t question his role in the agency known as the “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Musk has also interacted with friendly political groups abroad, such as attending the far-right Lega party convention in Italy or conferences like the World Government Summit in Dubai. He has also recently participated in live chats on the X Spaces platform, mostly to support candidates or campaigns he cares about, such as failed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel.

While he occasionally interacts with White House reporters, Musk has not participated in an interview that involved actual questioning in more than a year. The most recent and arguably “toughest” interview was in March, when he spoke to Fox News and was grilled by host Bret Baier about calling Senator Mark Kelly a “traitor.”

Musk’s most recent difficult interview was in March 2024 with former CNN anchor Don Lemon. During the chat, Lemon grilled Musk about X’s increasingly right-wing platform, its proliferation of conspiracy theories, and Musk’s controversial statements on diversity, transgenderism, and more.

Musk, however, was clearly not pleased to be asked such questions. Lemon – who was set to launch a new show on X with the Musk interview – was quickly informed that the broadcast deal had been canceled.

Musk has long had a fraught relationship with the media.

In an interview with the BBC in April 2023, he said he had a “love/hate” relationship with the press – but leaned more toward the “hate” side. He also seemed to gloat about removing the verification stamp from the New York Times account on the X platform.

Musk has also been known to disband or reduce the communications departments at his companies, leaving no one to respond to press inquiries—or, in the case of Twitter (now X), to respond to press emails with a hate emoji.

In articles about Musk, there is almost always a note that he or his team did not respond to requests for comment. Reporters say it is difficult to determine who is actually handling Musk’s communications—the White House, his personal staff, or Musk himself.

The White House and Musk’s representatives did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on who is coordinating his interviews.

“I have no obligation to answer questions from the press, Don. The only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re broadcasting on platform X and you asked me to do it,” Musk told Lemon last year. “If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t be doing this interview.”