Elon may have not changed significantly, but his power has. With that power has come a change in how much influence he has , and what he can do with his power.

Elon may have not changed significantly, but his power has. With that power has come a change in how much influence he has , and what he can do with his power. Also the world has progressed. Social norms have changed, what is acceptable has changed. this also ignores accumulation of events. Him doing one crappy thing is maybe not newsworthy. Him doing ten of them suddenly adds up.