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Elon Musk speaks with other delegates during day one of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Bletchley, England, on Nov. 1, 2023. Leon Neal/Getty Images
Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday criticized “bogus media stories” for allegations that he was anti-Semitic, following his response to a controversial social media post last week.
“This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic,” Mr. Musk wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he added. “I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.”
The recent backlash against Mr. Musk came after he replied, “You have said the actual truth,” to a post that accused Jewish communities of pushing “dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
The tech mogul later clarified that “this does not extend to all Jewish communities” and said the blame should be on groups such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish advocacy group.
“The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel,” he wrote on X on Nov. 15. “This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat. It is not right and needs to stop.”
Amid the controversy, Comcast, Disney, IBM, Warner Bros., and other corporations pulled their advertisements from X after a report by left-wing media watchdog Media Matters charging the platform with promoting pro-Nazi content. In a company statement, X called the report “another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Musk responded by vowing to file a “thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.”
Responding to Mr. Musk’s X post on Sunday, political journalist Brian Krassenstein said, as a Jewish man, he has “never once thought” that Mr. Musk was “even remotely close to an antisemite.”
“Those who throw around these words so easily are actually the ones causing harm to Jews because it minimizes the actions of actual antisemites,” Mr. Krassenstein wrote.
Mr. Krassenstein’s comment drew a “Thank you” response from Mr. Musk.
Presidential Candidates Weigh In
Republican presidential candidates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, both took questions about Mr. Musk’s response to the controversial post on Sunday.
When asked on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Mr. Christie said what Mr. Musk did was “unacceptable.”
“This is an outrage, outrageous type of hate that’s being expressed, and we need to be speaking out against it no matter who does it,” Mr. Christie said. “Whether it’s Elon Musk, whether it’s professors on our college campuses where students that they are misleading, or whether it’s individuals who are speaking out in an anti-Semitic way on the streets of our cities. This is unacceptable.”
Mr. Christie added that he believes President Joe Biden “needs to be much stronger than he’s been in speaking out against anti-Semitism in this country.”
In an interview with CNN, Mr. DeSantis refused to comment, saying he “did not see” Mr. Musk’s post.
“And so I know that Elon has had a target on his back ever since he purchased Twitter, because I think he’s taking it in a direction that a lot of people who are used to controlling the narrative don’t like,” Mr. DeSantis added.
After Mr. Musk’s post was read to him aloud, the Florida governor still refused to comment, saying he didn’t have enough context to make a judgment.
“I know you tried to read it. I have no idea what the context is,” Mr. DeSantis added. “I know Elon Musk. I have never seen him do anything. I think he’s a guy that believes in America. I have 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.”
Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based journalist. He covers news in China and Taiwan. He holds a Master's degree in materials science from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan.
