On Jan. 20, inside Washington D.C.’s Capital One Arena Elon Musk made two gestures at President-elect Donald Trump’s “Victory Rally” that many, including experts on German history and the Holocaust, interpreted as Nazi salutes.
According to Wired, Musk denied these implications by downplaying the gesture on social media and posting a clearly edited video to his account.
“Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’”’ attack is sooo tired,” Musk wrote.
Despite Musk’s assertions, the proof is in the pudding. Neo-Nazis across the world have responded to Musk’s gesture with glee.
According to Nick Martin, an investigative journalist who tracks extremist groups, Musk’s gestures were unmistakable Nazi salutes.
“The entire neo-Nazi movement seems to be eating it up,” Martin told Wired.
“He gave two unmistakable Nazi salutes and they got the message loud and clear.”
Evan Kilgore, a Holocaust denier and far-right political commentator, who likely would have been banned from Twitter in the past, which Musk bought and rebranded X, indicated his pleasure via a post on the platform.
“Holy crap…did Elon Musk just Heil Hitler at the Trump Inauguration Rally in Washington DC…This is incredible.” Kilgore followed it up later, writing, “We are so back.”
Musk has been criticized for his overt embrace of far-right ideology, recently he has promoted Germany’s far-right party Alternative for Germany, and in an interview with the party’s leader, Alice Wiedel, earlier in January, Musk indicated that he believes the conspiracy theory that Hitler, a Nazi, was actually a communist.
In a bizarre move, the Anti-Defamation League, a group purportedly dedicated to combating anti-semitism, indicated in a post on Musk’s platform that it does not believe Musk’s salutes were Nazi salutes, which actual Nazis have applauded as a mainstream moment for their brand of hate.
The ADL’s statement was widely panned, including a quote tweet from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who indicated that the organization had abandoned its post.
“Just to be clear, you are defending a Heil Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now. You work for them. Thank you for making that crystal clear to all.”
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