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Elon Musk invokes Eminem lyrics in latest jab at SEC

Musk's lawyers quoted Slim Shady's "Without Me" to argue against the SEC's requirement that Musk's tweets be preapproved.

Elon Musk
The SEC doesn't care that Elon Musk hates having his tweets monitored.
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

In Elon Musk's latest retort in his battle with the SEC, he channeled the one and only Slim Shady in his argument to gain back full reign over his Twitter account.

According to The Verge, in a filing on Tuesday, Musk's lawyers argued that his agreement with the SEC that requires his tweets to be preapproved violates the First Amendment. The filing cites abbreviated lyrics from Eminem's 2002 song “Without Me": “The FCC won’t let me be or let me be me so let me see/ They tried to shut me down." In the filing, Musk's attorneys swapped in "SEC" for "FCC." Cute, right? The song references a 2002 incident when the FCC fined a radio station in Colorado for playing one of Eminem's songs, but later reversed the fine.

“The First Amendment is a critical constitutional limitation that demands we proceed cautiously and with appropriate restraint," the filing said, referencing the FCC's decision to reverse the fine.

Musk has tweeted some absolutely wild things to his audience of more than 80 million, getting him into some legal trouble along the way. After he tweeted that he could take Tesla private without filing needed regulatory notices in 2018, the SEC slapped Musk and Tesla with a $20 million fine and required Musk agree that his tweets must be monitored and get approval before they're sent.

Needless to say, that hasn't been happening — the SEC is now investigating Musk over a November 2021 tweet in which he asked his followers whether he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla in order to pay more taxes. The filing is Musk's latest attempt to try to wiggle out of this agreement, which he has called "unworkable."

Last week, a top U.S. securities regulator asked a federal judge to keep Musk locked into the agreement, claiming he hadn't met the "high burden" needed to set it aside.

Nat Rubio-Licht

Nat Rubio-Licht is a Los Angeles-based news writer at Protocol. They graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper and online journalism in May 2020. Prior to joining the team, they worked at the Los Angeles Business Journal as a technology and aerospace reporter.

elon musksecspacexteslatweetstwittereminemslim shadybulletins
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