Tech mogul Elon Musk on Sunday addressed public backlash to his recent post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in which he appeared to endorse an antisemitic conspiracy theory about Jewish people espoused by another X user.
“This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic,” Musk posted Sunday afternoon.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he continued. “I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.”
The recent wave of media backlash came after Musk replied, “You have said the actual truth,” to a post that repeated an antisemitic conspiracy theory suggesting Jews want to flood the country with minority groups from elsewhere.
The post read: “I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.”
Musk’s apparent endorsement of this message had immediate consequences, as Disney, Apple and other corporations pulled their advertisements from the platform.
Multiple public officials rebuked the X owner, including the White House, which said, “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
While some 2024 GOP presidential candidates, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, condemned the statement on the Sunday shows earlier, others dodged.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sparred with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning when asked whether he would condemn the post, at first saying he had not seen the post. When Tapper read the post aloud, DeSantis still refused to condemn it, saying he would want to see the full context and insisting that Musk has long had a target on his back.
“Well, because I haven’t seen it,” DeSantis said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about the post. “I know you tried to read, I have no idea what the context is. I know Elon Musk. I’ve never seen him do anything. I think he’s a, he’s a guy that believes in America. I’ve never seen him indulge in any of that. So it’s surprising if that’s true, but I have not seen it. So I don’t want to sit there and pass judgment on the fly.”
Musk, in his post Sunday, denied accusations of antisemitism, but he did not provide any further explanation for the post.
Musk has been accused of using antisemitic rhetoric in the past and has had a tense relationship with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization that fights hate and antisemitism. The ADL has been the subject of Musk’s ire, especially after the ADL published a report documenting the rise in antisemitic incidents after he took over the company formerly known as Twitter.