Elon Musk condemned over Holocaust 'jokes' following salute controversy

Elon Musk has been condemned by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and its CEO following a series of Holocaust-related ‘jokes’ he shared on X, the social media platform he owns.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL, just spoke out a mere few days after the nonprofit defended Musk’s controversial arm gesture at a Donald Trump inauguration rally which was widely compared to a Nazi salute. The ADL fights antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and bigotry.

Musk defended himself against a wave of criticism and backlash about his gesture. The world’s richest man put his hand to his chest and threw a straight arm in the air with his palm flat. As well as directing the gesture to the audience, he also turned around and repeated the same gesture towards a flag of the United States that was hanging behind him.

The SpaceX boss dismissed accusations of making a fascist arm movement, claiming it is part of a broader campaign against him. He wrote on Twitter/X: "The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired. Frankly, they need better dirty tricks."

The ADL also defended Musk in a post shared to X, stating: “It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.

“In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath.”

But in the days following the inauguration, Musk has seemingly attempted to make light of the Nazi accusations by sharing a series of puns inspired by the names of famous Nazi party members Rudolf Hess, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler.

However, ADL CEO Greenblatt has now responded directly to Musk with a rebuttal, stating: “We’ve said it hundreds of times before and we will say it again: the Holocaust was a singularly evil event, and it is inappropriate and offensive to make light of it. @elonmusk, the Holocaust is not a joke.”

The ADL's X account quoted Greenblatt’s statement and added: “Making inappropriate and highly offensive jokes that trivialize the Holocaust only serve to minimize the evil and inhumanity of Nazi crimes, denigrate the suffering of both victims and survivors and insult the memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Shoah.”

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