It is very possible indeed that I may have missed the point. I only wanted to point out that the phrase “giant Buddha” is not that strange to my ears. It does not refer to the actual Buddha, but to many of the representations (e.g., the Daibutsu in Japan).

You're right, it's not a strange phrase in itself - but the quote he referring to is a tweet by Sunday Times political editor Tim Shipman, which actually said Johnson was squatting "like a giant *toad* across British politics". (Less than a year later he was gone, of course). Niche joke, sorry!

it's really more about Musk comparing himself to a Buddha, let alone a "giant" one