Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and a close aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, rebutted claims that he performed a "Nazi salute," calling it a maneuver by mainstream media.
On the 21st (local time), Musk shared a post from another user on X (formerly Twitter), which featured a photo of former U.S. President Barack Obama, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with one arm raised diagonally. He wrote, "Mainstream media is completely inciting and you are now the media."
He criticized that mainstream media is not targeting similar actions by Democratic figures but is only focusing on him.
Musk also posted, "Honestly, if you're going to smear, you need to do better. Attacks like 'everyone is Hitler' are too clichéd."
Andrea Stropa, who is said to have connected Musk with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, reportedly deleted a post stating, "The Roman Empire that starts with the Roman salute has returned." The Roman salute is an action similar to the Nazi salute that was widely used in Italy during the dictatorship of fascist Benito Mussolini.
In contrast, the BBC quoted experts saying Musk's action should be viewed as a Nazi salute. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University, remarked, "As a fascism scholar, it was indeed a Nazi salute and a very aggressive salute."
Previously, Musk sparked controversy with actions reminiscent of a Nazi salute during Donald Trump's inauguration celebration. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that while there is freedom of expression, far-right support cannot be tolerated.