Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied having any romantic relationship with “beautiful” Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni after the two were seen cozying up together at an awards reception in New York City.
The billionaire, 53, and far-right politician, 47, were pictured gazing into each other’s eyes at the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Awards dinner at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan on Monday night, sparking rumors of a mutual infatuation.
But Musk quickly put the gossip to bed on Tuesday.
“I was there with my Mom. There is no romantic relationship whatsoever with PM Meloni,” Musk tweeted in response to a post of the viral photograph of the pair with the caption: “We all know what happened next.”
Musk introduced Meroni on stage at the black-tie event at her request, gushing that she “is even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside.”
The X owner and father of 12 also described Meloni as “authentic, honest and thoughtful.”
Meloni embraced Musk and lauded him as a “precious genius” before diving into a 15-minute speech defending nationalism and challenging the notion of the “inevitable decline of the West.”
Musk nodded along as she spoke and stood up to applaud when she finished.
Meloni and Musk were seated beside each other at the event, which coincides with this week’s UN General Assembly. They were also spotted deep in conversation.
At one point, Meloni was seen gesturing emphatically as Musk leaned his head close to her, one clip showed.
Musk and Meroni were locked in deep conversation at Monday night’s dinner.FILIPPO ATTILI/US PALAZZO CHIGI PRESS OFFICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Musk and Meroni have met previously and she had requested he hand her the award.X / @classcnbc
Meloni addressed the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.AP
Meloni has emerged as a conservative force in European politics since she was elected Italy’s first female prime minister in 2022.
She split from her boyfriend of 10 years Andrea Giambruno in October 2023 after a lewd audio recording surfaced of him asking a woman if she would be interested in a foursome.
The perverted exchange was apparently the last straw for Meloni, who revealed in an X post at the time that her relationship with Giambruno had “diverged for some time” before she officially ended it.
Musk and Meroni have met several times before, according to The Telegraph.
Musk flew out last June to visit the Italian prime minister at her official residence in Rome last year. He visited Italy again in December to speak at a political festival hosted by Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party, according to the paper.
They have discussed their shared interest in the West’s declining birth rates and expressed their optimism for the future of artificial intelligence.
