Controversy Over Salute at Trump Inauguration Celebration
Musk Responds with Criticism on X
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who became the center of controversy for making a gesture reminiscent of the Nazi salute at the inauguration celebration of U.S. President Donald Trump, has criticized it as mainstream media propaganda.
On the 21st (local time), Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter) another user's post containing a photo of former U.S. President Barack Obama, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raising one arm diagonally, writing, "The mainstream media is complete propaganda, and now you are the media."
This appears to be a claim that Democratic figures making similar gestures are not being criticized, and only he is being targeted. Musk also posted, "If you want to smear me, you have to do better. Attacks like 'everyone is Hitler' are too clich?."
Andrea Stroppa, who is known to have connected Musk to Italian Prime Minister Meloni, reportedly posted and then deleted a message saying, "The Roman Empire that begins with the Roman salute has returned." The Roman salute is a gesture similar to the Nazi salute. It was widely used in Italy during the dictatorship of fascist Benito Mussolini.
The Anti-Defamation League, an anti-antisemitism organization, posted that "Musk seemed to make an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm and it was not a Nazi salute," according to the British BBC. BBC reported, citing experts, that Musk's gesture should be considered a Nazi salute. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history at New York University and a scholar of fascism, argued, "As a researcher of fascism, it was indeed a Nazi salute and a very aggressive one."
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