Elon Musk speaks out on 'Nazi salute' controversy at Donald Trump's inauguration
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Elon Musk has spoken out after his arm gesture during Donald Trump's inauguration was likened to a Nazi salute. The SpaceX CEO, 53, made back-to-back gestures as he gave a speech at Washington DC's Capital One Arena. He told Trump supporters: "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.".
After that, he left many shocked as he put his hand on his chest, then stretched out his arm with an open hand. He made the gesture twice in quick succession and to many it appeared the tech billionaire had performed a fascist salute - familiar to most from their use by the Nazis in reverence to Adolf Hitler.
On his own social media platform X, users questioned what the gesture meant. One wrote: "Did Elon Musk just do a Hitler salute." Another added: "holy s**t, elon musk just did the nazi salute on tv... at the president's inauguration...". One more user added: "Elon Musk casually doing a Hitler salute in front of millions. Right." Others have suggested he was merely gesturing that his "heart goes out" to the crowd.
But hours after the accusations emerged, an account called 'The Rabbit Hole' re-shared a tweet Musk had written ahead of the US election, which read: "In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold ... " The Rabbit Hole wrote that the "salute hoax" was just "another part of the 'dirty tricks campaign'" Musk had previously mentioned.
