Jody Serrano
Editor in chiefEditor in Chief at Xataka On. Before joining Webedia, I was a tech reporter at Gizmodo and The Messenger. While I've covered all sorts of things related to technology, I'm specialized in writing about social media, Internet culture, Twitch, and streamers.
When President Donald Trump told a story about his “seriously overweight” friend that takes “the fat shot drug” to make an argument about prescription drug prices, nobody batted an eye. Trump isn’t known exactly for being subtle.
The surprise came later when people were speculating on social media who Trump’s “seriously overweight” friend might be. To quench their curiosity, some users decided to ask Grok, the AI chatbot created by Elon Musk’s xAI. Grok’s answer certainly raised eyebrows.
A “[h]ighly neurotic, brilliant businessman.” Trump was discussing his plan to lower prescription drug prices in the U.S. via executive order when he decided to tell a story about his “seriously overweight” friend.
“I’ll tell you a story. A friend of mine—he’s a businessman, very, very, very top guy. Most of you would’ve heard of him. Highly neurotic, brilliant businessman, seriously overweight, and he takes the fat shot drug,” Trump said on Monday.
He added that the friend had recently called him to ask him a question about drug prices.
“‘I’m in London. And I just paid for this damn fat drug I take.’ I said, ‘It’s not working,’” Trump recalled his friend saying. The friend wasn’t done. “‘I just paid $88. And in New York I pay $1,300. What the hell is going on?’”
Grok has entered the chat. Based on Trump’s description of his friend, several people on social media already believed that he was referring to Musk. Over on X, Musk's social media platform, one user thought it would be fun to ask Grok who the unnamed person in Trump’s story.
Asking Grok questions is a recent social media trend, though its answers aren’t always correct and can be unhinged.
“It's likely that Trump was referring to Elon Musk in the quoted tweet. Musk has publicly admitted to using weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and fits the description of a well-known, brilliant businessman,” Grok said in its response. “His international travel supports the price complaint scenario. However, the ‘seriously overweight’ label doesn't perfectly match Musk's public image, and Trump's storytelling can be exaggerated, leaving some uncertainty.”
Click on the image to view the post on X.
Musk does use weight loss drugs. Interestingly, Grok might have actually given landed on the truth in this case. Musk has admitted to using the weight loss drug Mounjaro, which is an injection taken once a week.
In December 2024, Musk posted a picture of himself on X with the caption “Ozempic Santa.” He later admitted that he wasn’t taking actually taking Ozempic but Mounjaro, another drug that works in a similar way.
Click on the image to view the post on X.
“Technically, Mounjaro, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it,” Musk said, likely referring to the fact that the name “Ozempic” is widely recognized.
Mounjaro, Ozempic, and Wegovy are part of a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists, which increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin, delay the time it takes to empty the stomach, and curb hunger.
Prescription drugs in the U.S. Putting aside Trump’s mystery friend and Grok’s daring response, the incident underscores the vast difference in prescription drug prices in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world.
U.S. patients tend to pay higher prices for prescription drugs primarily because the government doesn’t put a limit on drug prices, among other factors. This sets the U.S. apart from other countries around the world, where governments establish a single body to negotiate prices with drug companies.
As a result, drugs like Wegovy, the version of Ozempic approved for weight loss, cost roughly $1,300 a month in U.S. compared to $140 in Germany and $90 in the UK.
Trump’s executive order aims to force drug companies to lower the prices of the drugs they sell in the U.S. so they match the prices in other developed countries. If they fail to cut prices, the president said the companies would face investigations.
Image | Gage Skidmore
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