Elon Musk has caused outrage over a one-armed gesture he gave during a speech celebrating the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Musk thanked the crowd for “making it happen”, before placing his right hand over his heart and then thrusting the same arm out into air straight ahead of him. He then turned and repeated the action for those sitting behind him.
Many on X, the social medial platform he owns, have likened the gesture to a Nazi salute.
In response, Musk posted on X: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
Musk, the world’s richest man and a close ally of President Trump, was speaking at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC when he made the gesture.
“My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilisation is assured,” the 53-year-old said, after giving the second one-armed salute.
There was immediate backlash on social media.
Claire Aubin, a historian who specializes in Nazism within the United States, said Musk’s gesture was a “sieg heil”, or Nazi salute.
Credit: bbc.com
