Elon Musk ignited fierce debate when a rally gesture prompted Nazi salute accusations at a Trump event. Historians and onlookers clashed over its meaning, while Musk dismissed the uproar and taunted critics to bring better dirty tricks. Political and social media storms quickly followed.
Elon Musk, a tech billionaire, demanded on Tuesday that his detractors find "better dirty methods" after an argument broke out over a salute he gave during US President Donald Trump's inauguration that some compared to the Nazi salute.
At a rally in Washington, DC, the head of X, SpaceX, and Tesla made an appearance on stage at the Capital One Arena. The event was attended by supporters of the newly inaugurated president.
Musk thanked the audience for their support of Trump's reelection as president by tapping his chest with his right hand and then reaching out to the people sitting behind him with an open palm gesture.
According to American Nazi expert Claire Aubin, Musk was essentially saluting with a "sieg heil," or Nazi sign. As many others saw the motion as a direct allusion to Nazis, Aubin shared on X her professional view that, "you're all right," you should believe your eyes.
However, Musk remarked on X thereafter that his detractors required "better dirty techniques." He lamented that the "everyone is Hitler" narrative had become old news.
In the past few weeks, Musk has also spoken out in favor of German far-right party AfD and British anti-immigration party Reform UK, The Raw Story shares.
The Anti-Defamation League, however, praised Musk's conduct this time around. The organization was established to combat anti-Semitism and has previously denounced Musk. According to the organization's statement put on X, Elon Musk apparently did an ungainly gesture out of pure joy and not a Nazi salute.
The charges that Musk emulated the Nazis were also denied by another historian, Aaron Astor.
Despite his repeated criticisms of Elon Musk for allowing neo-Nazis to taint this platform, he argues on X that the motion in question does not constitute a Nazi salute. "This is a socially awkward autistic man's wave to the crowd where he says 'my heart goes out to you,'" he added
In 2021, Musk made public the news that he had received an autism diagnosis, namely Asperger's syndrome.
An audience member told AFP (via FRANCE 24 English) that he thought Musk was joking when he made the gesture.
A 29-year-old tech worker and pastor named Brandon Galambos said that Musk is hilarious and full of sarcasm. Therefore, he doesn't believe the Tesla CEO meant the "sieg heil" when he did the salute on stage.
Nonetheless, far-right figures in the US were reportedly rejoicing over the gesture, according to Wired and Rolling Stone. One such figure was writer Evan Kilgore, who praised the salute as " incredible."
Fascist historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat determined that the motion was a Nazi salute, and an extremely aggressive one at that.
A similar wave of concern washed across members of the Democratic Party.
"Well, that didn't take long," Congressman Jimmy Gomez posted on X in response to the incident.
