Elon Musk on Tuesday blamed “legacy media propaganda” for the general public’s growing criticism of him since he entered the political fold.
“Well, I mean, unfortunately, what I’ve learned is that legacy media propaganda is very effective at making people believe things that aren’t true,” Musk mentioned when requested on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” if his work for President Trump was definitely worth the backlash.
When CNBC reporter David Faber requested for an instance of this, Musk pointed to the controversy surrounding the hand gesture he made throughout Inauguration Day that was in comparison with a Nazi salute.
“That I’m a Nazi, for example, and how many legacy media publications, talk shows, whatever, try to claim that I was a Nazi because of some random hand gesture at a rally where all I said was that my heart goes out to you,” Musk mentioned Tuesday.
“I was talking about space travel, and yet the legacy media promoted that as though that was a deliberate Nazi gesture, when in fact, every politician, any public speaker who’s spoken for any length of time, has made the exact same gesture,” he added.
The tech billionaire got here below scrutiny in January after he made a straight-arm gesture throughout a speech at Trump’s inauguration parade. Shortly after making the gesture, he informed the gang “My heart goes out to you,” earlier than he circled and made an identical gesture going through the opposite means.
Amid stories of the gesture, some got here to his protection, together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit targeted on combating antisemitism.
Faber mentioned he spoke with a variety of folks shut with Musk who rejected the accusations Musk was making a Nazi salute.
In an interview earlier this month, Musk argued the critics engaged in “character assassination.”
Faber went on to ask in regards to the backlash over Musk’s management of the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity.
Musk defended the hassle, which has concerned mass layoffs and program spending cuts at quite a few federal companies.
Public opinion about Musk and a few of his companies have tumbled within the wake of DOGE’s strikes.
In surveys by Axios and Harris Ballot grading model reputations in a number of areas, SpaceX in 2021 was ranked no. 5 and Tesla was ranked no. 8, with scores of 81.1 and 80.2, respectively.
By 2025, SpaceX is ranked at no. 86 and Tesla is ranked at no. 95, with scores of 66.4 and 61.3, respectively.
