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White House Criticizes Elon Musk for Endorsing ‘Antisemitic and Racist Hate’

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White House Criticizes Elon Musk for Endorsing 'Antisemitic and Racist Hate'

On Friday, the White House strongly condemned Elon Musk for endorsing what they termed as “Antisemitic and racist hate.” The criticism came in response to a statement by the Tesla CEO and owner of X Corp., where he expressed agreement with a social media post accusing “Jewish communities” of promoting “hatred against whites.” Musk, in his response on X, affirmed that the post “said the actual truth.”

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates declared that it is “unacceptable to echo the heinous lie associated with the most tragic act of Antisemitism in American history at any given moment.” Bates seemed to be alluding to the horrific mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. During that incident, a gunman, who adhered to the antisemitic “white genocide” conspiracy theory, fatally shot 11 people.

“We strongly denounce the reprehensible promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate, as it goes against our fundamental American values,” stated Bates. The White House’s statement highlighted the timing of Musk’s post, noting its proximity to the deadly attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7, which they characterized as “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Bates emphasized, “It is incumbent upon all of us to unite against hatred and to speak out against those who undermine the dignity of their fellow Americans, jeopardizing the safety of our communities.” Despite CNBC’s outreach, representatives from Tesla and X did not promptly respond to requests for comment on the White House’s statement.

On Wednesday, Musk reacted to a post alleging that Jewish communities were promoting a form of dialectical hatred against whites, despite advocating against such hate themselves. Musk, who holds the most popular account on X, responded, “You have spoken the truth.”

The initial post, originating from an account with fewer than 5,000 followers, has garnered over 1.1 million views since Elon Musk amplified it. Musk, boasting a following of more than 163 million accounts on X, also took the opportunity in the same X thread to criticize the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish nonprofit advocacy group, along with others whom he accuses of promoting “de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind.”

In a separate post, Elon Musk asserted that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) “unfairly targets the majority of the West” because they refrain from criticizing “minority groups who are their primary threat.” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt responded on X to Musk’s statement, cautioning that, “At a time when antisemitism is escalating in America and surging globally, it is unquestionably risky to leverage one’s influence to endorse and propagate antisemitic theories.”

Elon Musk, the wealthiest individual globally, has previously issued a defamation threat against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), claiming that the group “has been attempting to undermine this platform by falsely accusing it and me of being anti-Semitic.” The recent interaction on Wednesday is not the initial instance where Musk has faced accusations of amplifying antisemitic conspiracies.

In a tweet posted on the platform formerly named Twitter in 2018, he wrote, “Who do you think owns the press? Hello.” Following accusations of antisemitism spurred by that tweet, Musk attributed the controversy to a Twitter “glitch,” asserting that it hid another post in the thread and “removed context” that would have clarified he was referring solely to “powerful people.” In 2022, he shared a meme comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler but later deleted it due to the ensuing backlash.

Upon his acquisition of Twitter, Musk reinstated previously banned users, among them the publisher of the neo-Nazi website, Andrew Anglin. Musk’s purchase of Twitter amounted to $44 billion last year. Studies indicate a decline in engagement on the platform since then, a fact disputed by Musk who contests that traffic has not decreased. Nevertheless, Musk has acknowledged a substantial decrease in U.S. ad revenue.

Amidst Musk’s recent controversy involving antisemitism, certain companies are taking steps to distance themselves from both him and his platform. IBM revealed this week that it has temporarily halted advertising on X following a report that indicated its ads were appearing alongside antisemitic content. Additionally, as the founder of SpaceX, a NASA contractor, Musk’s spacecraft manufacturing company is scheduled to make another launch attempt of Starship on Saturday, part of an ongoing NASA contract.

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