Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and President-elect Donald Trump’s“first buddy,” revealed on Christmas night that he was using the medication Mounjaro for weight loss while dubbing himself “Ozempic Santa” in a holiday-themed social media post.
The revelation also comes just a couple of weeks after he clashed with Trump’s designated Health and Human Services chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the widespread use and long-term benefits of GLP-1 inhibitors in battling obesity.
Posting to his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk shared an image of himself dressed as Santa Claus next to a Christmas tree alongside the caption “Ozempic Santa.” The post quickly went viral, gathering over 200,000 likes and 26 million views.
“Like Cocaine Bear, but Santa and Ozempic!” Musk added in a separate tweet.
The mega-billionaire, who Trump has tapped to lead the government efficiency advisory committee DOGE, followed up his post with a series of messages confirming that he was taking an Ozempic-like drug to shed pounds.
“Technically, Mounjaro, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it,” the Tesla CEO noted.
Mounjaro, much like Ozempic and similar injectable medications, is a GLP-1 inhibitor initially prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes to help control blood sugar levels and stimulate insulin release in the body. Millions of Americans have since started taking the drug to successfully combat obesity, as studies have shown that overweight adults can lose up to 15 percent of their body weight.
Musk went on to state that he originally tried Ozempic to battle the bulge, but that high doses of the medication “made me fart & burp like Barney from the Simpsons.” He added that “Mounjaro seems to have fewer side effects and be more effective.”
Earlier this month, a rift appeared to grow between Kennedy and Muck over the best way to make the American public healthier, considering that 40 percent of American adults are now considered obese.
During an appearance on Fox News’ Gutfeld! last month, Kennedy argued that making GLP-1 inhibitors available to all overweight Americans would cost taxpayers trillions of dollars, claiming it would be much cheaper just to provide healthier food to the public.
“If we spend 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 he 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 plane.
While Kennedy continued to insist that lifestyle change and greater access to organic foods were the keys to making America healthier, Musk contended this month that the expensive weight-loss drugs would make the biggest difference. “Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors super low cost to the public,” Musk wrote on December 11. “Nothing else is even close.”
A day later, Kennedy appeared to slightly soften his stance on the drugs during an interview with CNBC. “The first line of response should be lifestyle,” he said. “It should be eating well, making sure that you don’t get obese, and that those GLP drugs have a place.”
Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time Musk has admitted to using GLP-1 inhibitors to manage his weight. Back in 2022, the SpaceX founder was asked on social media how he had suddenly looked trimmer after he had admitted that he dislikes working out and had poor eating habits.
“Fasting,” he replied. “And Wegovy.”
It’s not clear yet if Musk will have more influence than RFK Jr. on who will Make America Healthy Again, but Trump has already started bristling over taunts that the X owner is really in charge and the “real president.”
During a speech at a right-wing conference on Sunday, the notoriously thin-skinned incoming president said Musk is “not taking the presidency” and is “not going to be the president,” citing the fact that Musk wasn’t born in the United States.
