Billionaire entrepreneur and top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk, touted that he has reaped the benefits of a controversial class of weight-loss drugs, after fellow top Trump adviser, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said the trendy new class of drugs is bad for Americans' health.
"Ozempic Santa" Musk posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Christmas Day, alongside an image of himself in front of a well-decorated Christmas tree dressed as Santa Claus — but without his signature big belly. "Like Cocaine Bear, but Santa and Ozempic!"
In a follow-up post, Musk clarified that he is taking the brand-name version called Mounjaro, but said the clunky name didn't "have the same ring to it."
‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’ STAR DOWN 120 POUNDS AFTER WEIGHT-LOSS DRUG MAKES HIM FEEL ‘LIKE A NORMAL PERSON’
Musk has been tapped by Trump — along with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — to head the soon-to-be Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aimed at cutting down on wasteful government spending and red tape. Meanwhile, Kennedy is Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and, if confirmed, Trump has given Kennedy permission to "go wild on health" as long as he doesn't interfere with Trump's domestic energy goals.
Musk's social media post over the holidays turned heads, considering Kennedy has expressed opposition to semaglutide. Originally developed as a diabetes medication, semaglutide has been used more widely in recent years for its appetite-suppressing effects.
"There's a huge push to sell this to the American people," Kennedy said of the semaglutide medication Ozempic when asked about his thoughts on the medication in October by Fox News' Greg Gutfeld. "They make this drug in Denmark, and in Denmark they do not recommend it for diabetes, or for obesity. They recommend dietary and behavioral changes."
"They're counting on selling it to Americans because we are so stupid and so addicted to drugs," Kennedy added. He also concluded that the U.S. could solve the obesity crisis in America "overnight" if they just had access to, and ate, better quality food.
WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS COULD SHAKE UP FOOD INDUSTRY
Kennedy has run on a platform to "Make America Healthy Again," but Ozempic, he says, will not help in those efforts. Musk, however, has said that "nothing would do more to improve public health" than making Ozempic more widely available.
During President Joe Biden's final days in office, his administration proposed expanding Medicare and Medicaid coverage for semaglutides to make them more widely available for those who want to reap the weight-losing benefits of the drug.
Besides Musk, Kennedy could also potentially clash with Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has also expressed support for drugs like Ozempic.
"I think the amount of good done by these medications by helping people lose weight and improve their cardiovascular system — and it might have long-term benefits in a lot of other areas as well, where obesity causes inflammation — is massive," Oz said last year in a video posted to his Instagram account.
CHEAP OZEMPIC KNOCK-OFFS HAVE RISEN IN POPULARITY – BUT ARE THEY SAFE?
Kennedy, who very well could become Oz's boss if they are both approved by the Senate, appeared to scale back his criticism of the new weight-loss drug amid his efforts to court support for his nomination from members of Congress.
"The first line of response should be lifestyle. It should be eating well, making sure that you don't get obese," Kennedy said during a quick interview with CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, before adding that anti-obesity drugs like Ozempic "have a place" in the American medical community.
Representatives for Musk, Kennedy and the Trump transition team did not provide a comment to Fox News Digital for this story.
