Elon Musk has accused “legacy media” of allegedly driving “pure propaganda” against him following his speech celebrating the inauguration of Donald Trump.
“The legacy media is pure propaganda. You are the media now,” the Tesla boss posted on X (formerly Twitter), along with a collage picture of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris making the same one-armed gesture.
“Since legacy media propaganda is considered a ‘valid’ source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda!” he wrote in a follow-up post, annexing a Wikipedia screenshot noting, “In his speech during the second Trump inauguration, Musk twice extended his right arm towards the crowd in an upward angle. The gesture was compared to a Nazi salute or fascist salute.”
SpaceX CEO voiced to “Defund Wikipedia until balance is restored!”
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Musk slams those who accused him of Nazi saluting
Notably, during Trump’s big day, Musk expressed gratitude to the audience for “making it happen” before placing his right hand over his heart and then extending the same arm straight ahead. He repeated the gesture for those seated behind him. Some American media and left-wingers compared Musk’s action to a Nazi salute.
Following the huge social media fuss, Musk responded through X post, stating, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
President Trump’s blue-eyed billionaire made the gesture while speaking at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured,” Musk, 53, said after performing the second one-armed salute. Followed by several pumping fist, and jumped around the stage.
Italian media reported that Andrea Stroppa, a Musk confidant who has ties to Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, shared a clip of the gesture with the caption: “Roman Empire is back starting from Roman salute.” (The Roman salute was historically used by Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party in Italy before being adopted by Adolf Hitler in Germany.)
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Stroppa later deleted the post and clarified on X that “that gesture, which some mistook for a Nazi salute, is simply Elon, who has autism, expressing his feelings by saying, ‘I want to give my heart to you.’ That is exactly what he communicated into the microphone. ELON DISLIKES EXTREMISTS!”
