The Bad Guys 2 director has addressed one key spoof in the film. The animated animal action adventure movie is a sequel to 2022’s The Bad Guys, seeing the return of director Pierre Perifel, this time working with co-director JP Sans.

The Bad Guys 2 was released in theaters on Aug. 1 to mostly positive reviews. The movie now has an 85% Tomatometer and a 95% Popcornmeter. The leading voice cast includes Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Natasha Lyonne, and Danielle Brooks.

Via Variety, Perifel spoke about the Elon Musk spoof in The Bad Guys 2. The interviewer asked the director about the storyline that appears very similar to Musk’s space shuttles, and what Perifel thinks about that now. Perifel started by confirming that they attempted to spoof SpaceX with MoonX.

He did note that The Bad Guys 2‘s Mr. Moon (Colin Jost) is not “inspired by Elon himself.” Nonetheless, Perifel admitted that this storyline is “weird that now Elon has been popping as somebody who is very odd.” Check out the full quote from Perifel below:

Variety: There is a storyline that is very Elon Musk space shuttle-coded. When you were putting this together, things were very different compared to releasing it in July 2025, and he’s very different. What is that like looking back?

What’s really obvious to me is we spoofed MoonX, SpaceX. And we have someone who’s going to conquer the stars. I don’t think the character of Mr. Moon is necessarily inspired by Elon himself. He’s such a cute, little bubbly character in the movie. But it’s weird, to your point, it’s weird that now Elon has been popping as somebody who’s a very odd, big figure now, and enmeshed into all these things with Trump. Now, it’s easy, in retrospect, to say you guys used Elon as a reference, but it was not really the case for us. It was more of a coincidence, if you want, except, again, for the name of the company.

What The Unintentional Elon Musk Spoof Means For The Bad Guys 2

Though he has risen to even greater prominence in 2025, Musk has been a notorious and controversial figure for years. He is widely recognized as the richest person in the world, having accumulated mᴀssive wealth from his various programs. This includes SpaceX, a space shuttle program with the goal of eventually colonizing Mars.

In the past year, however, Musk has become an even more infamous figure due to, as Perifel puts it, how he is “enmeshed into all these things with Trump.” Just this year, the SpaceX owner received a lot of backlash for appearing to give a Nazi salute at President Trump’s inauguration. Moments like these have made references to Musk all the more challenging.

SpaceX was founded in 2002, so there was plenty of content to lampoon in The Bad Guys 2. Nonetheless, with all the increased attention, it is no surprise that the animated film’s intentions might have been misconstrued.

Our Take On The Bad Guys 2 Reference

The Bad Guys 2‘s cultural references are part of what makes the movie so fresh. While it is a PG film, plots like MoonX make The Bad Guys 2 enjoyable for adults, who can appreciate its clever referencing.

Unfortunately, such inclusions in the script also make it more likely that the film will be subject to controversy. The Bad Guys 2 team could not have possibly seen what was coming with Musk when they sat down to write the script, but the film reads far differently now in 2025.

Source: Variety