Gaiman Mocks Musk After He Knocks Rings of Power

Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power is doing well for Amazon, having been viewed by more than 25 million on its debut day on Prime Video last week—a record high for an Amazon original. But don't count Elon Musk among the show's fans. "Tolkien is turning in his grave," the Tesla CEO tweeted Monday. "Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice." Enter Neil Gaiman, whose Sandman adaptation recently debuted on Netflix: "Elon Musk doesn't come to me for advice on how to fail to buy Twitter, and I don't go to him for film, TV or literature criticism," the fantasy author tweeted.

"Musk didn’t come right out and say it this time around, but it’s clear he’s joined the Internet bandwagon that argues the new LOTR is too 'woke,'" writes Mary Kate Carr at the AV Club. "Woke, in this and most other instances, is code for 'not white as the driven snow' and 'includes a powerful female character.' Would Tolkien really turn in his grave over a television show depicting his powerful female character as powerful? And if he did, would his opinion on the matter be worth respecting?" Mashable reports that critics appear to have higher marks for the show than viewers so far. (More Elon Musk stories.)