Elon Musk Salutes Jensen Huang With Air Movie Clip After Saying Hiring the Ex-Nvidia Chief Would Be an Honor

Elon Musk has paid tribute to Jensen Huang, the Nvidia co-founder who resigned as chief executive this week, by sharing a scene from a movie about Michael Jordan. It came a day after Musk said it "would be an honor" to hire him.

On Friday, Musk reposted a roughly two-minute clip from "Air," the 2023 film about Nike's pursuit of Jordan and the creation of the Air Jordan brand. He added a one-word caption: "Jensen."

The clip was first posted by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. In the scene, Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, played by Matt Damon, delivers a monologue to the young Jordan about success, failure and legacy. He tells him that great people face criticism and hardship, but that their achievements endure.

The scene's best-known line, "You're gonna be remembered forever because some things are eternal," was widely read as Musk's verdict on Huang's 33-year run at Nvidia.

'That would be an honor'

The tribute followed an earlier show of support. Late Wednesday, as reports emerged that Nvidia's board was preparing to oust Huang, the financial news account ZeroHedge posted on X: "Elon please hire Jensen."

Musk replied: "That would be an honor."

Musk did not say what role he might offer Huang or at which of his companies, which include Tesla, SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI. There has been no indication of any actual job offer or hiring talks.

Nvidia announced Huang's resignation the next day, Thursday, and named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim chief executive. Musk shared the "Air" clip on Friday, after the resignation was announced.

The tribute appeared to be an expression of respect for Huang rather than a new recruitment pitch.

Musk backed Huang throughout the scandal

Musk has defended Huang since the scandal broke.

On Nov. 8, Huang admitted in a message to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife. The admission followed reports linking him to Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed International, whom U.S. officials suspect of ties to Chinese intelligence. The Justice Department says it has reached no conclusion on whether she is a spy, and China denies the allegations. The two are not related.

Days later, venture capitalist Shaun Maguire wrote on X that Huang had done something "dumb" but remained one of the greatest entrepreneurs of his generation. "Two mistakes don't make a right, and I believe Jensen is irreplaceable for America's AI leadership," Maguire wrote.

Musk responded: "I agree."

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman also defended Huang, saying on X that Huang was human and that even exceptional people make mistakes. President Donald Trump said it was "sad" to see Huang leave Nvidia.

Employees push for his return

Support for Huang has also come from inside Nvidia. Employees have reportedly launched petitions calling for his reinstatement, and an internal post urging the company to bring him back drew about 1,600 comments, according to South Korean media.

Even so, a return looks unlikely in the near term. Nvidia's board has hired law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate Huang's conduct and related national security concerns. Reuters reported Friday that Huang had misled the company's general counsel and other executives about his relationship with Alice Huang, describing it as routine business dealings with a customer.

Reports have also emerged of relationships with two Nvidia employees. Huang has not publicly confirmed those reports.

A long alliance

Musk and Huang have had a close working relationship for years.

Musk's companies are among Nvidia's biggest customers, buying vast numbers of its graphics processing units to train AI models and run supercomputers. Huang has publicly praised Musk's speed in building xAI's huge computing clusters, once calling him "superhuman" for setting up a supercomputer in 19 days.

In 2016, Huang personally delivered Nvidia's first DGX AI supercomputer to Musk for use at OpenAI, which Musk co-founded. Last October, Huang hand-delivered one of Nvidia's new DGX Spark AI systems to Musk.

The two have also backed each other publicly on policy. In July, when Huang made his first post on X to support open-weight AI models, Musk wrote: "This has my full support. Jensen is right."

What's next for Huang

Huang's future remains unclear. He faces an internal board investigation, an FBI inquiry into Alice Huang's alleged ties to Chinese intelligence, and scrutiny from lawmakers. A Senate committee has called him to testify on Dec. 3 about the flow of Nvidia chips to China, according to reports.

Huang still holds a large stake in Nvidia, the company he co-founded in 1993 and built into the world's most valuable chipmaker on the back of the AI boom.

For now, Musk's tribute adds a high-profile voice to those defending Huang's legacy, even as investigations into his conduct continue.