Elon Musk has been mocked over his red carpet appearance at the annual Breakthrough Prize awards over the weekend. 

The SpaceX founder, 52, was seen hamming it up for the cameras as he struck a series of awkward poses - from extending his arms up and out like an orchestra conductor to a bizarre faux-tortured expression. 

Between poses, Musk, who was joined at the event by the likes of Margot Robbie, Robert Downey Jr, and Kim Kardashian, appeared amused at his own efforts, laughing to himself while surveying the pack of photographers and reporters gathered in front of him.

Naturally, users who glimpsed the 32-second clip on Musk's social media platform X were quick to ridicule the billionaire after it was shared by The Hollywood Reporter.

Elon Musk, 52, gave it his all during his red carpet appearance at the Breakthrough Prize awards - but his efforts were mercilessly mocked by users on his social media platform X

After outstretching his arms as though an orchestra conductor, Musk morphed the pose into a strange faux-tortured expression

He then transitioned into a stance of mock confusion, hunching up his shoulders as if pretending to shrug

'The awkward laugh and frantically looking around for validation every time kills me,' one X commenter cringed

In the short video, Musk is also seen poking fun at the go-to celebrity red carpet pose by looking at cameras over his shoulder with his back turned.

But not everyone was impressed with his moves as he appeared to be.

'The awkward laugh and frantically looking around for validation every time kills me,' one wrote.

'It's like watching Mitt Romney attempt foreplay,' a second imagined.

'Embarrassing,' a third scoffed. 

'When you get your drawing on the fridge,' a fourth jeered, alongside a still shot of Musk looking extraordinarily pleased with himself.

'What a tool,' a fifth sneered.

'Why is he posing like a sim,' sixth person chimed in, observing that his movements appeared akin to the stilted, unnatural-looking maneuvers of the human-like Sims avatars in the eponymous video game series.

'He wants to be Tony Stark so bad,' a seventh pointed out of Musk's seeming reverence of comic-book characters. 

On viewing the 32-second clip of Musk posing, X users were quick to tear his efforts to shreds

Still, a few X users came to Musk's defense - with one even defending his 'being goofy on the red carpet,' and pointing out that critiques would be better wielded at the billionaire's actions

'Oh god this hurts to watch. Why does he act like a 10 yr old who just discovered anime?' an eighth echoed.  

'Richest man on earth, can't pose for a picture,' a ninth sighed.

Still, a few came to Musk's defense.

'Now this is why we love the man. He is extremely smart, Yet ever so humble and funny,' one Musk-eteer gushed.

And someone else sagely argued that perhaps the peanut gallery should reserve their judgements of Musk's actions, rather than tearing apart his surface-level mannerisms.

In their words: 'So many mean comments and why? Over someone's looks? Being goofy in the red carpet? That's pretty endearing actually. Criticize people on their actions or words, but the personal attacks tend to say more about those engaging in that way than the ones being attacked.'