Elon Musk salute controversy
On January 20, 2025, while speaking at a rally celebrating U.S. president Donald Trump's second inauguration, businessman and political figure Elon Musk twice made a gesture interpreted by some as a Nazi or Roman salute.
[5][6] The Anti-Defamation League defended Musk and argued that the gesture carried no significant meaning, but condemned the Nazi-themed jokes he made in the backlash of the incident.
[11] After he finished dancing, Musk placed his hand to his heart and extended his arm out above his head with his palm facing down, making a straight-arm gesture.
[6] Scott Jennings, an American political strategist and CNN contributor, condemned critics who accused Musk of doing a Nazi salute.
[26][27] Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization specializing in civil rights, referred to it as an "apparent Nazi salute" and noted it had "ignited a firestorm of controversy".
[32][33] Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene defended Musk, accusing news outlets of lying about him and spreading "propaganda to serve the Democrat party".
[34] Republican representative Elise Stefanik, Trump's nominee to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, defended Musk at her confirmation hearing.
[52] Yolanda Díaz, the Spanish minister of labor and longtime member of the Communist Party of Spain, announced that she would quit using X in response to the gesture.
For example, Musk previously endorsed a post on his platform, X, in November 2023, claiming that Jewish people promote "hatred against whites" and support immigration by "hordes of minorities".
This, along with his support for the German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), has raised concerns for Spitalnick about Musk's role in normalizing antisemitic and extremist views.
She argued that Musk's behavior, including the salute, should be viewed as part of a broader effort to normalize fascist symbols and ideologies, which in turn makes marginalized communities, particularly Jews, less safe.
[59] On January 20, 2025, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Musk addressed attendees at an AfD rally, where he stated that there is "too much focus on past guilt", suggesting that children should not be held accountable for their ancestors' actions.
According to The New York Times, Musk's comments were "an apparent effort to wipe away the long shadow of the Nazis that has influenced generations of Germans to quarantine extreme political parties from public life".
"[64] Thomas Sewell, an Australian neo-Nazi posted a video of Musks' gestures describing it as a "Donald Trump White Power moment".
[65] Nick Fuentes, founder of the white nationalist group the Groypers, described the gesture as "straight up like 'Sieg Heil', like loving Hitler energy".
[66] In the month after the incident, rapper Kanye West made a series of controversial Twitter posts that contained several antisemitic and pro-Nazi comments,[67] among which was an uploaded image of Musk's gesture captioned "heil Elon" in all capitals.
[5][74] After the gestures were described as a "Nazi salute" in the Wikipedia article about him, Musk reiterated his previous criticism against the website, calling for its "defunding".
[78] On January 23, three days after the incident, Musk made a series of Nazi-themed puns on social media as a reaction to the controversy, which the Anti-Defamation League (after previously defending his behavior) called "offensive" and "inappropriate".
[84][85] British political commentator Calvin Robinson gave a speech at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, D.C., which concluded with a gesture that was described as a "pro-Nazi salute" in a statement released the same day by the Anglican Catholic Church.
[88] Laura Smith, the Towamencin Township supervisor in Pennsylvania, resigned after posting a TikTok video of her appearing to replicate Musk's gesture.
[89] Real estate agent Yessica Garza of San Antonio made a social media video in which she imitated Musk's salute and said, "My heart goes out to you."
