Elon Musk Responds to Backlash Over Gesture Interpreted as Nazi Salute
Elon Musk, never shy and always divisive, has found himself in the crosshairs again. He posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the backlash over what some called a Nazi salute during a public appearance.
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In a recent tweet, he wrote, “It’s amazing how hard legacy media tried to cancel me for saying ‘my heart goes out to you’ and moving my hand from my heart to the audience. In the end, this will just be another nail in the coffin of legacy media.”
The controversy started after a video of Musk’s gesture went viral and some said it was a Nazi salute. The video was taken out of context. A quoted tweet from @amuse sums it up:
“NAZI SALUTE? Wait so this is a thing? Will @EmmanuelMacron resign after giving a Nazi salute, or is this just the way people engage large crowds when they are excited? And it has NOTHING to do with Nazis? Anyone who thinks Elon gave a Nazi salute is being disingenuous.”
Elon’s tweet which was a quote to @amuse tweet quickly devolved into a debate with people on both sides sharing their takes.
@danmurrayserter said: “Elon, I agree, but—just clarifying you aren’t doing a Nazi salute and apologizing if it came across that way would be a righteous and decent thing to do that shows humility that is a sign of a great leader, especially as you’re entering politics, or would go a long way.”
@Slackoffski said: “The sad part is if they would give a minute to watch the whole thing, they would know that Elon actually said ‘my heart goes out to you’ while moving his hand from his heart. Twice. Yet they want to have his head rolled only by rewatching a 1-sec video that was reshared over and over out of context.”
@Techgnostik said: “What’s astonishing to me is that you can’t see how your gesture was easily misinterpreted, and apologize for an inadvertent mistake. Sure, Macron and many others did something similar, but there is a lot of circumstantial context that unfortunately made yours more easily mistaken.”
@RobMassey328422 said: “No, Elon, you are being so disingenuous with that statement. You, arguably, made a mistake—no biggie, but own it. It LOOKED JUST LIKE A NAZI SALUTE. Not once, TWICE. I would be TERRIFIED if I wasn’t actually watching and fought against the Nazi movement. Just say sorry!”
@Joelmpetlin said: “This hand gesture explanation by @elonmusk will be a disappointment to those on the Far Right and the Far Left. Both political extremes were hoping and praying that it was an actual Sieg Heil salute. One side to praise you for it and the other to condemn and cancel you for it.”
See the tweet below:
