If you’re getting tired of seeing the Tesla and SpaceX CEO everywhere you look, I’ve got some bad news for you – he doesn’t look to be going anywhere.
According to the Trump Administration, the billionaire is ‘the face of the Department of Government Efficiency’, despite not being the administrator.
Musk even conducted a Q&A session with his son in the Oval Office next to the president, who stayed silent.
But now, the tech entrepreneur has tried to explain, as a guest on the Joe Rogan podcast, why he did this:Musk carried out the odd-looking gesture after President Trump pledged that he would send American astronauts to Mars at the Capitol One Arena.
After thanking the crowd for the victory over Kamala Harris, he thumped his chest to cheers, before shooting his right arm up in an angular motion at the sky.
He then did the same thing again, facing towards the American flag.
The South African-born businessman responded to claims on X not long after, claiming that he has ‘voted Democrat’ in the past, but has described them as ‘the party of division & hate’ at the moment.
He added: “Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold…” which he followed up by later saying: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
But in the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Musk spoke about the ‘salute’ among a range of other topics in a three-hour chat.
Musk was slammed for the gesture (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Musk has now insisted that his alleged ‘Nazi salute’ was actually ‘meant in the most positive spirit possible’.
When host Rogan highlighted: “You did it with a little enthusiasm that probably wouldn’t be recommended with hindsight,” Musk only doubled down.
The 53-year-old said of those that criticised the gesture: “It’s deliberate propaganda. They know it was obviously not meant in a negative way. I’d literally said my heart goes out to you and the entire speech was very positive.
“I was being very enthusiastic about the future in space. It was a great crowd.”
He went to call the allegations the gesture was a ‘Nazi salute’ ‘coordinated propaganda’ from ‘the legacy media’, adding: “Hundreds of people saying it simultaneously, they just got their instructions.”
Furious, he took to X to write: “Since legacy media propaganda is considered a ‘valid’ source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda!”
He later added: “Defund Wikipedia until balance is restored!”
Musk doubled down on the salute, insisting it didn’t mean anything negative (YouTube/PowerfulJRE)
Elon Musk’s daughter also posted a cryptic message following the incident, posting on social media: “I’m just gonna say let’s call a spade a f**king spade.
“Especially if there were two spades done in succession based on the reaction of the first spade.”
Quickly backtracking, she said she was ‘clearly only talking about card suits’, adding that she has ADHD and that it was ‘clearly’ an accident.
