"Elon Owes You $100": Musk's SpaceX Settles Lawsuit With Cards Against Humanity

Elon Musk's space firm SpaceX has settled its lawsuit brought by adult party game creators Cards Against Humanity.

The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

In 2017, Cards Against Humanity (CAH) launched a "holiday campaign" in order to protest President Donald Trump's construction of a border wall with Mexico. In total, 150,000 people paid $15 each towards the campaign, and CAH purchased a plot of land on the US-Mexico border with the goal of making it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the administration to build the wall.

"This, in its own creative way, was CAH’s effort to draw attention to another example of injustice and hubris on the part of a high-profile billionaire who was more interested in his own aggrandizement than in the good of the people," CAH explains in the complaint filed against SpaceX.

"That parcel of property (the “Property”) was not condemned for purposes of the Border Wall during Trump’s tenure, but it has become the object of another behemoth company (SpaceX) and its founder (Elon Musk)."

CAH alleges that SpaceX began buying properties near the "pristine" land, and also began ignoring property lines.

"The site was cleared of vegetation, and the soil was compacted with gravel or other substance to allow SpaceX and its contractors to run and park its vehicles all over the Property," the lawsuit alleges, adding that generators were brought in to allow work through the night, large amounts of gravel were unloaded onto the property, and construction vehicles are used and stored on the property "continuously".

"In short, SpaceX has treated the Property as its own for at least six (6) months without regard for CAH’s property rights nor the safety of anyone entering what has become a worksite that is presumably governed by OSHA safety requirements."

According to the card game makers, when caught using the property, SpaceX attempted to purchase it.

"Elon Musk’s SpaceX was building some space thing nearby, and he figured he could just dump his shit all over our gorgeous plot of land without asking," they write on their lawsuit website. "After we caught him, SpaceX gave us a 12-hour ultimatum to accept a lowball offer for less than half our land’s value. We said, 'Go fuck yourself, Elon Musk. We’ll see you in court'."

In the end though, the lawsuit was settled ahead of a court date, which was scheduled for November. The company had been seeking $15 million, according to their website, "Elon owes you 100 dollars". In the end, they have settled, with undisclosed terms. The team had promised funders "like two dollars or most likely nothing" for their share of the proceeds, and in the end, have fallen somewhere in between.

"Elon Musk’s team admitted on the record that they illegally trespassed on your land, and then they packed up the space garbage and fucked off. But when it comes to paying you all, he did the legal equivalent of throwing dust in our eyes and kicking us in the balls," CAH said in an email sent to people who funded buying the initial patch of land.

"So while we can’t give you what you really wanted––cash money from Elon Musk––we’re going to make it up to you, our best, sexiest customers…with comedy! We’re sending you each a brand new mini-pack of exclusive cards all about Elon Musk."

Anybody who donated to the campaign is invited to claim their free pack of Elon Musk cards, their part of a very weird settlement between the world's largest private space company and a novelty adult game manufacturer.