Musk Melts Down Over Criticism of His Provocative Salute
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Elon Musk was caught under heavy fire earlier this week after performing a provocative hand gesture while giving a speech at President Donald Trump’s inaugural rally Monday—one many said resembled the fascist salute used in Nazi Germany.
Hours after making a slew of Nazi jokes on his X page Thursday, Musk continued to troll his haters with another string of posts.
“If I see one more damn Nazi salute in my feed, I’m gonna lose my mind,” Musk wrote on X along with a silly-face emoji. “This algorithm sucks!!”
He also replied to a video of French President Emmanuel Macron extending his arm from his heart to a crowd, and said “Seriously” when news aggregator Visegrád 24 asked if anyone had also called him a Nazi.
A few minutes later, he posted a GIF of Arnold Schwarzenegger extending his right arm upward and wrote, “He’s Austrian too,” along with a side-eye emoji, apparently trying to draw a comparison between his own salute and Schwarzenegger’s motion.
Earlier on Thursday, Musk posted: “Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Gőring your enemies! His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming,” along with a cry-laughing face emoji.
The references to notorious Nazi figures struck a chord with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which was founded to combat antisemitism.
Musk’s continued references to Nazi figures and themes forced the organization to change its tune—after the organization drew heat for defending Musk earlier this week.
“Making inappropriate and highly offensive jokes that trivialize the Holocaust only serve to minimize the evil and inhumanity of Nazi crimes, denigrate the suffering of both victims and survivors and insult the memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Shoah,” ADL posted on their X page after Musk’s jokes on Thursday.
Earlier this week, the organization said that Musk’s hand gesture was “not a Nazi salute” but simply an “awkward” moment borne out of excitement.
“It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge,” ADL wrote Monday. “In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”
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