In an interview with the BBC’s Today programme, Bill Gates said that conspiracy theories about him are “crazy” and that being insulted in public is “horrible”.
The Microsoft founder also told the BBC’s Mishal Husain that meeting Jeffrey Epstein was a “mistake” and spoke about Elon Musk’s recent public criticism of him.
Bill Gates used to be the richest person in the world — that title now goes to Elon Musk.
The two, however, don’t get along very well. Last week, Musk accused Gates of reducing the number of Tesla shares he owns — in an alleged strategy to make money by betting a company will lose value. Musk also posted insults to Gates on Twitter.
“There’s no need for him to be nice to me,” Gates commented.
Musk argued that selling shares in Tesla, a company that makes electric cars, undermines Gates’ environmental philanthropy.
Asked specifically whether he had bet against Tesla, Gates replied: “This has nothing to do with climate change. I have ways to diversify [os investimentos]”.
He objected to the idea that some of the technology used by Tesla was harmful to the environment.
“The popularity of electric cars will lead to more competition to sell these cars. So there’s a difference between adopting electric cars and these companies becoming infinitely valuable.”
Musk recently had an offer to buy Twitter accepted by the company’s board.
Asked what he thought of the deal, Gates said: “I think Twitter could be worse. But it could also be better… So I’d rather wait and see.”
Gates has a particular interest in social media, not only because it has made his billions through it, but because it has become a hotbed of conspiracy theories.
He has been an advocate for vaccines — and has pumped billions into vaccination programs around the world.
This prominence has made him the target of bizarre and baseless claims that he is trying to track people through immunizers. Many of the false theories were promoted on social media platforms and took off during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In a way, you almost have to laugh because it’s so crazy,” says Gates.
“Do I really want to track people? I spend billions on vaccines, I don’t make money on them. Vaccines save lives.”
Gates also says he was insulted in the street by conspiracy theorists.
“I just recently went out in public, and some people yelled at me, saying I’m tracking them. And that’s a horrible thing.”
Gates and his wife Melinda French Gates announced they were getting divorced last year. The couple created the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — one of the world’s largest charitable organizations — and had been together for 27 years.
“My life is very different. My children left home, the last of them left for college a year ago. Divorce is very difficult. It was a difficult year”, he says.
The marriage ended with reports that Gates had an extramarital relationship. In March, Melinda Gates also said she questioned why he had held meetings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I didn’t like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. I made that clear to him,” he told CBS in March.
Asked about the meetings, Gates described the conversation with Epstein as a “mistake”.
“I made a mistake meeting Jeffrey Epstein. Maybe her instincts [Melinda] about it were sharper than mine,” he says.
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