President Donald J. Trump was inaugurated to the presidential office on January 20th in Washington D.C. which saw the appearance of billionaires with a combined net worth of over $885.276 billion USD such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Tesla, X and Space-X CEO Elon Musk. Towards the end of the ceremony after Trump’s speech, tech billionaire Elon Musk spoke delivering an energetic speech calling Trump’s reelection no ordinary victory. Musk finished the speech with a gesture closely resembling a Nazi salute, with his right hand slapping his chest, then extending his right arm out and upward, raised straightened slightly above his head. This gesture was made twice, Musk following, saying “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”
This gesture has launched the already polarizing figure into further controversy, boosting Nazi allegations and drawing harsh criticism from the left and center, especially following his endorsement of German Far Right Parties, policy updates on X and interactions with alt right and Neo-Nazi aligned or associated posts and accounts.
“This abhorrent gesture has no place in our society and belongs in the darkest chapters of human history,” New York, U.S. Rep Jerrold Nadler said.
“Unite in condemning this hateful gesture for what it is: antisemitism.”Nadler stressed to his colleagues.
New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned Musk’s gesture and the ADL’s defence of Musk stating they were “defending a Heil Hitler salute”.
Musk took the X, sharing a response to those drawing the resemblance naming it the “salute hoax”, disregarding the gesture completely
“Just another part of the ‘dirty tricks campaign,” Elon Musk wrote.
“Frankly, they need better dirty tricks,” Musk added.
The lack of accountability, an explanation, and or apology has alarmed many, when the controversy could have been expelled easily, with a simple explanation.
“A man with Aspergers exuberantly throwing his heart to the crowd,”Journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote on X. Explaining what she saw.
Other defensive arguments are seen in statements made by the anti-semitism and zionist group the Anti-Defimation Leauge (ADL).
“It seems that [Musk] made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge,” The ADL stated
Alt-Right media group Prager-U’s Charlie Kirk, defends Musk in a statement.
“ His heart goes out to the patriots[ so he]pounds his chest and waves at the crowd,” Kirk stated.
Musk’s defense offers likely and valid explanations however Musk’s response has been viewed by some as “immature” and “irresponsible” and his lack of accountability as questionable.
Musk is no stranger to Neo-Nazi ideology, his purchase of the social media platform Twitter now known as X led to a readjustment of X’s moderation policies and the reinstatement of many accounts suspended for hate speech, misinformation and extremism; the platform now flourishing with such, as well as hate, bullying and harassment of marginalized individuals such as queer people, and the pushing of far right content such as Prager-U. The regard Musk is held in by the far right has caused much praise amongst neo nazi groups on social media.
“I don’t care if this was a mistake. I’m going to enjoy the tears over it,”Blood tribe leader Christopher Pohlhaus captions his video, posted on a telegram group as revealed by Rolling Stone Magazine.
Musk’s involvement with more fringe and extreme alt right have brought many to question the intent in his gesture and the lack of accountability in his response.