Elon Musk has responded after being accused of doing a ‘Nazi gesture’ during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.PauseMute
The 53-year-old was amongst a list of celebrities and tech billionaires in Washington on 20 January in support of President Trump.
The 78-year-old was sworn in to the most powerful job in the world yesterday, during which he gave a 30 minute speech
His big day was tainted, however, by a controversy surrounding Elon Musk after he was accused of doing a ‘Nazi salute’ on stage during the inauguration parade.
On top of appearing to make the ‘salute’, the billionaire made many other strange motions.
While on stage, he became excited and enthusiastic about the prospect of planting an American flag on Mars. He then thanked the audience for helping secure Trump’s new position and poudned his fists on his chest, before shooting his hand up at an angle, towards the sky.
He the turned away from the audience and made the same motion towards the US flag.
Speaking to the audience, he said: “My heart goes out to you,”, “It is thanks to you that the future of civilisation is assured.”
CNN anchor Erin Burnett said: “Standing ovation for Elon Musk. By far the biggest reception of the day. You saw him come out with that odd-looking salute.” Her co-star Kasie Hunt said that it was a gesture that ‘was evocative of things that we have seen through history’ and ‘not something you typically see at American rallies’.
Viewers took to X, Musk’s own platform, to discuss the bizarre action. One person wrote: “Elon Musk just did a Nazi salute on national television.” another said: “THERE’S NO WAY ELON MUSK DID A SIEG HEIL AT TRUMP’S INAUGURATION.”
The Anti-Defamation League label a Nazi salute as ‘raising an outstretched right arm with the palm down.’
On X, in May 2022, he wrote: “In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.
“But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold…”
Alongside the screenshot, an X user wrote: “The salute hoax is just another part of the ‘dirty tricks campaign’.”
Quoting a past tweet, he wrote: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
Another user begged to ‘retire the calling people a Nazi thing’, which Musk replied “Yeah exactly ”.
