White House slams Elon Musk’s ‘abhorrent’ promotion of anti-Semitism
‘Actual truth’: Musk voiced support for post that accused Jews of weakening the West through support for immigration. The White House has condemned Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of the social media site X formerly known as Twitter, for promoting a “hideous” anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on his platform.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, White House spokesman Andrew Bates criticised Musk for calling an anti-Jewish tweet, which accused Jews of undermining Western civilisation through support for immigration, “the actual truth”.
“We condemn this abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans,” Bates said.
Musk ignited a firestorm of criticism when he praised a post on X, echoing the belief, common among white nationalists, that white people in Western countries are being “replaced” with an influx of immigrants from countries in the global south.
The conspiracy theory that Jews are responsible for facilitating this “replacement” through support for immigration and resettling refugees is the same belief that motivated a far-right gunman who stormed a synagogue in the city of Pittsburgh and killed 11 worshipers.
That attack, which took place in October 2018, was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history. “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of anti-Semitism in American history,” Bates said.
It is not the first time that Musk has embraced rhetoric about immigration that critics say mirrors that used by the far right.
