{"id":1625,"date":"2026-06-23T15:06:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=1625"},"modified":"2026-06-23T15:06:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:06:40","slug":"john-c-reilly-rejects-elon-musks-warning-about-empathy-empathy-is-a-superpower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=1625","title":{"rendered":"John C. Reilly rejects Elon Musk’s warning about empathy: ‘Empathy is a superpower’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

John C. Reilly has a very different view of empathy than Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

During a recent interview with the “It’s Open with Ilana Glazer” podcast, the Oscar-nominated actor \u2014 famous for his silver-screen roles in “Chicago” and “Talladega Nights” \u2014 argued that empathy is a core trait that makes humans uniquely good.<\/p>\n

Read more Older Americans debate AI\u2019s risks and rewards as retirement nears<\/a><\/p>\n

“Empathy is not a trap \u2014 empathy is a superpower,” he said, referencing Musk’s previous criticism of empathy. “It’s what makes human beings exceptional, our ability to look outside of ourselves. We’re not an alligator trying to just get the next fish.”<\/p>\n

The comments highlight a culture war debate over a word that used to sound almost impossible to oppose.<\/p>\n

Musk has argued that empathy has been weaponized \u2014 particularly in debates over immigration and crime. On X, he’s repeatedly said excessive or misdirected empathy can become “suicidal” for a society if it is used to justify policies that he believes undermine Western civilization.<\/p>\n

During a previous interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience”, Musk said he believes “you should care about other people,” but said, “the fundamental weakness of western civilization is empathy,” calling it a “bug.”<\/p>\n

Read more Are you a consultant? Tell us how much you\u2019re spending on AI these days.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Elon Musk: The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is the empathy exploit<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a guy who posts on the internet who’s great, Gad Saad, and he talks about basically suicidal empathy. There’s so much empathy that you actually suicide yourself. So we’ve got\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/XbQ6T5KUDt<\/p>\n

\u2014 Eva Fo\ud835\udd4f \ud83e\udd8a Claudius Nero’s Legion (@EvaFox) December 14, 2025<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.<\/p>\n

Reilly framed empathy as the glue that holds social contracts together. He used a traffic light as an example: a driver without empathy would run a red light to get to their destination faster, he said, and risk smashing into other cars.<\/p>\n

“And it’s very Catholic, too,” the actor said. “‘Do unto others,’ you know, ‘Treat your brother as you would treat yourself.’ It’s crazy that we have to argue for these things right now. That’s a really upside-down world feeling for me.”<\/p>\n

Read more A Princeton grad built a $30 million AI detection business. Now he\u2019s selling it to Superhuman.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oscar-nominated actor pushed back on Elon Musk’s warnings about the “empathy trap,” saying empathy is a “superpower.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn C. Reilly rejects Elon Musk's warning about empathy: 'Empathy is a superpower' - American home journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=1625\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John C. 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