Elon Musk says Joe Rogan weed puff meant random drug tests for him, SpaceX employees: 'A lot of backlash'

Elon Musk revealed in an interview released Thursday that his marijuana use on the "The Joe Rogan Experience" created a nightmare for his company.

Musk smoked marijuana on an episode of Rogan's show in 2018, saying he was not a regular user himself and asked if it was legal. 

After taking one puff from a joint, the tech mogul passed it back.

In California, where the podcast was recorded, recreational marijuana use is legal, but SpaceX maintains federal contracts, and the use of marijuana is against federal law. 

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Musk told the "Full Send" podcast this week that the federal government began giving him and other SpaceX employees random drug tests "to prove I'm not a drug addict."

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"I did get a lot of backlash," Musk told the podcast. "It was pretty nutty, actually.

"Because SpaceX has a federal government contract — and it's still illegal federally. So the SpaceX competitors were like 'Hey, why don't you do anything? Look at him brazenly smoking weed on Joe Rogan's podcast.'"

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Musk said it was a damaging incident.

"I didn't think I'd get that much backlash," he said. "The consequences for me and for SpaceX were not good."

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Musk said the increased scrutiny of his employees upset him, recalling that he apologized, saying, "Sorry guys, I didn't realize it'd be this big of a deal."