Lawyer for Elon Musk likes to clown around outside the courtroom
Attorney Jaymie Parkkinen is a performing clown and teaches clown classes in the Los Angeles area. He describes his work akin to the high-concept physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Lucille Ball. (Image from Shutterstock)
While Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s legal battles with OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman are no laughing matter, one of Musk’s lawyers does a lot of clowning around outside the courtroom.
Attorney Jaymie Parkkinen is a performing clown and teaches clown classes in the Los Angeles area, according to Business Insider.
He describes his work akin to the high-concept physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Lucille Ball, according to the story.
Parkkinen represents Musk in a lawsuit over the origins of OpenAI in San Francisco federal court, according to Business Insider.
“All of my comedy friends—none of them can believe I’m a lawyer,” Parkkinen told Business Insider. “And none of my lawyer friends can believe I do clown.”
Parkkinen is philosophical about his clowning.
“When you strip away all the social masks that we all wear, if you strip away gender and politics and money and status and power, and you’re just your raw human self without all of the trappings of society—who are you?” he said in the story. “And clown tries to answer that question.”
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