Elon Musk Sued by Tolkien Estate for 'Copying Gollum's Whole Deal'

JRR Tolkien’s estate is suing Rick and Morty guest actor Elon Musk for violating the beloved fantasy author’s copyright by slowly morphing into a fish-eyed ghoul corrupted by vast power.

“We had been noticing similarities between the two figure’s storylines for years,” Mr Tolkien’s lawyers said, “but when his skin inexplicably turned the colour of uncooked cod, his eyes grew about three inches wider, and he stopped saying things that made any sense, we knew we had to act.”

“Both of these guys started out in a distant land (Gollum the banks of the Anduin, Musk the humble emerald mines of Pretoria), destroyed something dear to them to gain influence (Gollum his friend Deagol, Musk the website formerly known as Twitter), and, crucially, both turned into creepy little dudes as soon as they became important.”

“People keep telling us that the Lord of the Rings’ message about the corrupting influence of extreme power could have been more subtle, but Elon has shown that if you make enough money you quite literally turn into a mentally unstable gremlin.”

“We also resent that Mr Musk has taken for granted the years of character work Andy Serkis put into developing Gollum’s trademark terrible posture and bizarre jumping style. Mr Serkis is a master of his craft, but was plunged into a deep depression when he saw images of Elon at a Trump rally leaping far more unnervingly than any man without formal Shakespearean training has any right to.”

“We will also be taking note that Mr Musk has started moving towards Smeagol’s ‘Return of the King’ character arc, obediently following an unlikely leader and former enemy across a foreign land to try and help him change the fate of the world. While he’s not betrayed Former President Trump to a man-eating spider yet, we can only hope he gets to it soon”

Musk’s lawyers have made it clear that they plan to dispute the claim, saying “Elon is absolutely nothing like the creature he is alleged to have copied. Gollum has quite a few redeeming qualities, and is actually a very complicated character, constantly torn between the temptations of good and evil. Our client has never shown any such deliberation.”