Elon Musk’s weird gesture during a speech following the inauguration of Donald Trump has been branded as a ‘Nazi salute’ by some viewers.
The tech billionaire was backing Trump’s vision for America as he delivered a supportive speech to the president, who is taking up post for the time second time. The SpaceX CEO made an odd gesture during the speech in front of jubilant Trump supporters in Washington DC, as he praised Trump’s ideas showing a particular interest in the president’s pledge to take astronauts to Mars.
“Elections come and go, some are important and some are not, but this one really mattered and I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk told Trump supporters. As the Mirror reports he then proceeded to place his right hand above his heart and quickly raise it toward the crowd.
While his speech did not make any reference to hate speech, many were quick to mock Musk’s gesture with some calling it a Nazi salute. A nine-second clip of Musk’s speech was shared on social media by journalist Aaron Ruper with the caption “um” and has gone on to be viewed more than 756,000 times. One verified Twitter/X user said: “Did Elon Musk just do a Hitler salute.”
X user Mordred added: “holy s**t, elon musk just did the nazi salute on tv… at the president’s inauguration…” X user wally b kleeposting addd: “Elon Musk casually doing a Hitler salute in front of millions. Right.”
Many of the clips posted to social media were edited to remove the context of Musk’s speech, which did not elude to Nazism. Others went on to downplay Musk’s gesture with one verified user noting: “Tell me that you don’t understand socially awkward people without telling me that you don’t understand socially awkward people.”
The Mirror has contacted Twitter/X for comment.
Musk has faced backlash for boosting accounts on his social media platform Twitter/X that have shared racist posts. Pro-Nazi accounts have flourished since Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 with accounts questioning the veracity of the Holocaust gaining millions of views.
The SpaceX CEO grinned with glee as he declared his excitement at Trump’s pledge to send American astronauts to Mars. Musk has made it a personal mission to eventually have humans colonise Mars and has repeatedly vowed to make it happen.
The SpaceX CEO has made numerous predictions that people will soon land on the Red Planet. In 2016, Musk said he believed humans could set foot on Mars in the next six years. He repeated that claim in 2020, saying it could happen by 2026. Last year, Musk said there would be a million people on Mars within 30 years.
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