In a moment that no one expected but no one will ever forget, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at the private funeral service of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan — and what he did next left every mourner in tears.
As the world continued to mourn the loss of Hogan, who passed away at the age of 71 earlier this week, friends and family gathered in a quiet, flag-draped memorial room in Tampa, Florida.
The mood was somber, the crowd intimate. A few celebrities had quietly made their way in — but none drew more attention than Musk, who slipped into the service without an entourage or press team.
Wearing an all-black suit and holding a framed portrait of Hogan, Musk approached the casket with an expression of silent reverence. Witnesses say he stood there for nearly a minute without speaking — simply staring at the face of a man he later called “one of the most real people I’ve ever known.”
Without making a show of it, he leaned down and placed a sealed envelope on the corner of the casket. Inside, according to a family spokesperson, was a handwritten note and a check that would cover the entire cost of the funeral — from the service to the burial, even covering expenses for the veteran honor guard and family transportation.
“He didn’t want any attention,” the spokesperson said. “He just said, ‘Let me do this. It’s the least I can do for my friend.’”
But what moved the room to tears wasn’t the money — it was the three words Elon Musk whispered under his breath just before turning away:
“See you, brother.”
The simplicity. The respect. The connection. In those three words, the world saw that this wasn’t just about a billionaire paying tribute to a celebrity. This was something personal.
It turns out the two men had developed a friendship over the last decade — bonding over their mutual love for innovation, discipline, and, surprisingly, classic American muscle cars. Hogan even once joked on a podcast, “If I were 20 years younger, I’d have been Musk’s bodyguard-slash-hype-man.”
Fans across the world have flooded social media with tributes not just for Hogan, but for Musk’s emotional tribute. One viral post read: “When the richest man in the world pays for a funeral and walks away without saying a word to the press — that’s class. That’s love. That’s brotherhood.”
At the front of the memorial room, just below the portrait Musk held, Hogan’s championship belt sat beside a folded American flag — a final tribute to the man who was larger than life, and yet, in death, reminded us all how fragile and beautiful life really is.