Elon Musk Escalates Jeff Bezos Feud by Slamming Lord of the Rings Series: 'Tolkien Is Turning in His Grave'

Kevin Mazur/Getty; Amazon Prime

Elon Musk doesn't have many nice things to say about Amazon's new Lord of the Rings series amid his ongoing feud with Jeff Bezos.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO, 51, took to Twitter on Monday to show his displeasure with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which began streaming on Thursday.

"[J. R. R.] Tolkien is turning in his grave," Musk tweeted, continuing his review in a second post: "Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice."

His Tweets drew criticism from a number of people on social media, including author Neil Gaiman, whose book series The Sandman is now a hit Netflix show.

The author dismissed Musk's opinion, tweeting, "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."

In response to Musk, another social media pointed towards the negative reactions to the series' diverse casting, which many have called racist.

"I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to reacting to art, but if you don't like #TheRingsOfPower because it's 'too woke,' racism and sexism are really the only plausible explanations," the social media user wrote.

However, in response to another message about the topic, Musk tweeted on Tuesday, "Those who claim any criticism of Rings of Power means you're racist are outing themselves as closet racists."

The series premiered to astronomical ratings, drawing 25 million viewers on its first day of release, a record for Amazon Prime Video, according to CNBC.

"Go middle-earth," Bezos, who has not publicly responded to Musk, wrote on Twitter in response to the good news.

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The two billionaires, who are engaged in a space race with their respective companies, have long engaged in an unfriendly back-and-forth discourse.

Bezos' Blue Origin filed a lawsuit last year after NASA awarded SpaceX a multibillion-dollar lunar lander contract to send humans back to the moon.

RELATED: Elon Musk Says Jeff Bezos Takes Himself 'Too Seriously,' Should Spend More Time at Blue Origin

Blue Origin sent a 50-page complaint to the Government Accountability Office that accused NASA of "moving goalposts" for the companies competing for a $2.89 billion lunar lander contract to transport astronauts to the moon as early as 2024, which eventually went to SpaceX.

"Their decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America's return to the Moon," Blue Origin said in a statement at the time.

In response to a New York Times reporter's Tweet about the complaint, Musk mockingly tweeted: "Can't get it up (to orbit) lol."

In 2019, Musk also called out Bezos for being a "copycat" on Twitter, after Bezos launched a network of satellites shortly after Musk himself debuted prototypes later dubbed Starlink.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty; John Shearer/Getty Elon Musk (L); Jeff Bezos

Shortly after being named Time's Person of the Year in 2021, Musk — who also edged out Bezos to become the world's richest person earlier that year — took another swipe at his fellow billionaire.

RELATED: 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' Takes Fans Once More into J.R.R. Tolkien's Magical Realm

"[He] does take himself a bit too seriously," Musk told the Financial Times in an interview published that December. "In some ways, I'm trying to goad him into spending more time at Blue Origin so they make more progress. As a friend of mine says, he should spend more time at Blue Origin and less time in the hot tub."

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is now streaming on Prime Video.