Best-selling author Neil Gaiman from Portchester mocks Elon Musk over his views on new Lord of the Rings show the Rings of Power

Neil Gaiman, who was born in White Hart Lane, has hit back at Elon Musk for his recent condemnation of Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Billionaire Musk took to Twitter to give the world his opinion on the show, which features Welsh-actor Morfydd Clark as main character Galadriel.

Musk said: ‘Tolkien is turning in his grave

‘Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.’

Another Twitter user expressed shock at the comments and solicited Neil Gaiman, a best-selling author of fantasy books and comics, to give his thoughts on the matter.

Gaiman, 61, was honoured by Portsmouth City Council in 2013 when it named a short stretch of road by Canoe Lake after one of his books – The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

He said: ‘Elon Musk doesn't come to me for advice on how to fail to buy Twitter, and I don't go to him for film, TV or literature criticism.’

The Twitter taut is aimed at Musk’s aborted attempt to buy the social media platform, which saw him pull out of a purchasing deal over concerns about fake users – only to meet a legal battle to force him into honouring the sale.

Meanwhile Gaiman has recently served as an executive producer on the TV adaptation of his 75-issue comic book series, The Sandman.