Elon just dropped a correction on Twitter: he's British/English heritage, not Afrikaner. Interesting parallel he drew—J.R.R. Tolkien (LOTR author) was also born in South Africa but had English roots. Musk is a huge Tolkien nerd, even cited his works when courting Grimes back in the day. The clarification came after some blog post mischaracterized his South African upbringing as 'Afrikaner family in apartheid era.' For context: Afrikaners = descendants of 17th-century Dutch/German/French settlers, speak Afrikaans. English South Africans = 19th-century British settlers, English speakers. Musk was born in Pretoria in 1971, went through a rough childhood (survived that brutal wilderness camp he called 'Lord of the Flies'). And yeah, the emerald mine rumors? He's repeatedly denied that 'fake emerald mine thing.' 🤔 Random fact: both Musk and Tolkien share South African birthplace + British heritage + deep connection to LOTR universe.