Elon Musk backs Onion staffers working on undisclosed project

Billionaire Elon Musk is financially backing a number of former employees from The Onion who are working on an undisclosed project.

Former Onion Editor-in-Chief Cole Bolton and Executive Editor Ben Berkley have been working on the project and recently brought on board three of the satirical website’s writers and another longtime editor, the Daily Beast reported Tuesday.

Bolton and Berkley told the news outlet that they are launching a new “comedy project” but did not provide details on how Musk would be involved.

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“We can confirm that we have learned nothing from prevailing trends in media and are launching a brand-new comedy project,” the pair said in a statement.

Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, met the two editors when he considered buying The Onion in 2014. The site was eventually acquired by Univision.

After Bolton and Berkley left the satirical news site last year, they reached out to Musk, who decided to back their new venture, a source with knowledge of the project told The Hill.

Musk does not manage the project, and will not have editorial oversight, the source added.

The billionaire CEO spoke of his comedic interests in a statement to the Beast when pressed about adding another venture to his expansive portfolio of projects. 

“It’s pretty obvious that comedy is the next frontier after electric vehicles, space exploration, and brain-computer interfaces,” he said.

SpaceX made headlines last month when it successfully launched the most powerful commercial rocket in the world.

Updated at 7:35 p.m.