The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman slates Elon Musk’s criticism of new Lord of the Rings series

‘Tolkien is turning in his grave,’ Tesla CEO shared in a critical tweet of the Prime Video series

Neil Gaiman has hit back at Elon Musk for his recent condemnation of Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

In a remark which seemed to play into his rivalry with Amazon’s billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, the 51-year-old Tesla CEO critiqued the series in a Twitter post on Monday (5 September).

“Tolkien is turning in his grave,” Musk wrote. “Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.”

Responding to the unfavourable review, a Twitter user tagged British fantasy writer Gaiman to ask his opinion of Musk’s comments.

“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 American Gods author replied on Tuesday (6 September).

Read The Independent’s four-star review of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power here.

Gaiman served as an executive producer on the recent TV adaptation of his 75-issue comic book series, The Sandman.

The Netflix drama follows the titular Sandman (played by Tom Sturridge), who’s been held prisoner for centuries and must travel across worlds and timelines to mend the chaos that’s ensued in his absence.

Read The Independent’s three-star review of The Sandman here.

The Sandman is available to stream on Netflix, and the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are available on Prime Video.