Elon Musk has made some disturbing comments about Jews. Here’s a list
A history of offensive remarks, including quoting Nazis and reinstating bigots to Twitter
A Christian group is calling on Elon Musk to stop attacking the ADL. Photo by Carina Johansen/NTB/AFP via Getty Images
By Adam Kovac September 6, 2023
Editor’s note: This story was originally published June 9, 2023. The Forward updates and re-publishes this list from time to time as warranted.
Soon after buying Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk reinstated many users who’d been banned from the platform for hate speech, conspiracy theories and other bigotry and misinformation.
Musk has also made a number of disturbing comments himself, including promoting a QAnon conspiracy theory and antisemitism. He sometimes quotes Nazis and he has had chummy exchanges with avowed bigots. In addition, he’s part of a campaign by far-right activists to bash the Anti-Defamation League, which has criticized him for permitting hate speech on the platform he owns.
Since Musk bought Twitter in 2022, which he’s since rebranded as X, groups that track hate speech have documented spikes in racist, xenophobic and antisemitic activity on the platform.
The following is a running list of every instance of antisemitic activity involving Musk we have found so far. See one we missed? Send to [email protected], subject line: Musk + Antisemitism.
Nov. 15, 2023: On a post that invoked the “great replacement theory,” accusing Jews of “flooding their country” with “hordes of minorities,” Musk replied to a user “You have said the actual truth.”
Sept. 4, 2023: White supremacist Nick Fuentes, on his America First livestream, applauded Musk’s engagement with a #BantheADL campaign on Twitter, including Musk having “tweeted 28 times in just the last 24 hours about this campaign.”
Sept. 4, 2023: Musk accused the ADL of being the “biggest generators of anti-Semitism” on Twitter and threatened a $4 billion lawsuit against them, saying they’d scared away advertisers.
Sept. 1, 2023: Musk “liked” a #BantheADL campaign that erupted among extremists on Twitter, now rebranded by Musk as X.
June 8, 2023: Musk replied with laughing emojis to a tweet from Andrew Torba, the founder and CEO of far-right social media platform Gab. Torba is one of the most outspoken and unrepentant antisemites in the United States: in July 2022, he said on Gab TV: “This is a Christian nation. Christians outnumber you, by a lot. A lot. And we’re not gonna listen to 2%. You represent 2% of the country, OK? We’re not bending the knee to the 2% anymore.” Other antisemitic incidents have included accusing Jews of stifling freedom of speech, reposting claims to Gab that Jews seek to “psychologically and spiritually” castrate Americans, promoted the “great replacement theory” and stated that Jews like Ben Shapiro are “not welcome in the movement unless he repents and accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior.”
Elon Musk replying to Gab founder + open antisemite Andrew Torba.
— Ben Goggin (@BenjaminGoggin) June 10, 2023
He recently said “The Jews in positions of power do not care that you have the freedom of speech in this country, they care that people like Ye have the freedom to reach a lot of people and criticize their power” pic.twitter.com/Svs3O6eZ4s
June 7, 2023: Musk responded to an antisemitic tweet about adrenochrome and actor-director Mel Gibson. The tweet contrasted a photo of President Joe Biden with his eyes closed and Gibson — who once blamed all wars on Jews and whose father was a Holocaust denier — in a muscle-bearing tank top. The tweet implied that Biden uses adrenachrome, a chemical that, according to QAnon conspiracy theorists, is harvested by a shadowy cabal (often comprised of Jews) through the trafficking and sexual abuse of children. Gibson is praised for hating “the Js,” or Jews. Musk’s response was to admire Gibson’s physique.
? Elon Musk has gone beyond dogwhistles and has now engaged with an explicitly antisemitic tweet.
— Elad Nehorai (@EladNehorai) June 7, 2023
“Js” here refers to Jews. The implication is that Mel Gibson is buff because he hates Jews. And that Biden drinks the blood of children (blood libel).
This is beyond dangerous. pic.twitter.com/Ldtr4mcY4T
May 29, 2023: Musk tweeted the quote, “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are allowed to criticize.” The quote is often erroneously attributed to Voltaire but is from neo-Nazi Kevin Alfred Strom.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 27, 2023
May 15, 2023: Musk compared George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist, to the X-Men comic book villain Magneto and followed up by saying Soros hates humanity. In X-Men canon, Magneto is, like Soros, a Holocaust survivor, an experience that leads him to work toward the destruction of humankind. The tweet earned an admonishment from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which was later retracted.
You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2023
A day later, after criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, Musk tweeted: The “ADL should drop the A”
Jan. 24, 2023: Musk reinstated to Twitter Nick Fuentes, a live-streamer well-known for his antisemitic views, included repeated praise of Hitler. He was banned again soon after.
Dec. 22, 2022: Andrew Anglin, founder of the Daily Stormer, was reinstated to Twitter and immediately posted about Hitler. Anglin remained on the site until April, when he was banned again.
Dec. 19, 2022: Musk exchanged tweets with Kim Schmitz, a pioneer of online piracy who goes by Kim Dotcom and is known for bigoted views. Schmitz, who owns a copy of Mein Kampf signed by Hitler, has made comments in the past about Jews running Hollywood.
Interesting
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2022
Dec. 12, 2022: Former Twitter employee Yoel Roth fled his home over safety concerns after a deluge of antisemitic threats sparked by repeated Musk criticism.
"Twitter’s former head of trust and safety (@yoyoel) has fled his home due to an escalation in threats resulting from Elon Musk’s campaign of criticism against him," @donie reports. https://t.co/tnslCGCAY4
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 12, 2022
Nov. 27, 2022: Musk called Alexander Vindman, a decorated Jewish military veteran and witness against former President Donald Trump, “both puppet & puppeteer,” echoing white supremacist rhetoric about Jews and political power.
Vindman is both puppet & puppeteer. Question is who pulls his strings … ?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022
Nov. 22, 2022: Musk tweeted “stop defaming me” at the ADL, prompting an interaction that ended with disgraced rapper Kanye West, in the midst of a monthslong spree of antisemitic comments, saying “Shalom.”
Nov. 8, 2022: Musk posted a picture of a Nazi soldier in a tweet that now was later deleted.
October 2022: Musk welcomed West back to Twitter, then banned him again for “inciting violence” after West tweeted a photo of a logo that appeared to combine a Star of David with a swastika.
Feb. 17, 2022: Musk tweeted a meme comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler; it was later deleted. The tweet sparked an indirect response from the United States Holocaust Museum admonishing Musk.
Recklessly exploiting Holocaust history and referencing Nazi leaders like Hitler to advance political or personal agendas is outrageous and deeply offensive to Holocaust survivors and the memory of the victims. Learn more: https://t.co/yKjRQCEvOY
— US Holocaust Museum (@HolocaustMuseum) February 17, 2022
May 17, 2020: Musk tweeted “Take the Red Pill,” a phrase often associated with QAnon. The phrase is a reference to the film The Matrix, in which a red pill leads to awakening into the “real world” that is normally hidden. A reply by Ivanka Trump — then serving in the White House — saying “Taken!” garnered a reply from Lilly Wachowski, the co-director of the film, saying “F— both of you.”
May 26, 2018: During an interaction with NBC reporter Ben Collins, Musk tweeted, “Who do you think owns the press?” which many viewed as repeating an antisemitic trope about Jews. Musk followed up by saying anyone who thought it was antisemitic was revealing their “inner bigot.”
Who do you think *owns* the press? Hello.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 27, 2018
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