Elon Musk denies he is dating Italian PM Giorgia Meloni after photo goes viral

Rome: Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he was not having an affair with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, replying to a joke after their mutual praise at a black-tie event in New York this week drew headlines on both sides of the Atlantic.

Photographs of the two lit up social media after Musk presented Meloni with the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council think tank on Monday. The New York Post called it a "public love-in" between the world's richest man and the first female Italian prime minister.

"I was there with my Mom. There is no romantic relationship whatsoever with PM Meloni," Musk wrote on X in response to a post of a photo of the two of them gazing fondly into each other's eyes at a banquet table, which had the jokey caption "we all know what happened next".

In a speech before handing over the award, Musk said Meloni was "someone who is even more beautiful inside than outside". The Italian right-wing leader replied that the US entrepreneur was a "precious genius".

Meloni, who split from her long-time partner in 2023, requested that Musk be the person to hand her the award, while the tech businessman flew to Italy twice last year to meet the Italian leader -- in June and December.