Singer Grimes, who shares three children with Elon Musk, has distanced herself from the tech billionaire following his controversial naz-like gesturei during the presidential inauguration the Donald Trump.
The SpaceX/Tesla CEO and owner of
Grimes, Musk’s former partner, reacted to the controversy on social media.
One of his fans wrote the following about X: “I’m more than ready to sacrifice my Grimes follow…I’m reaching a breaking point.”
The Canadian singer responded by writing, “While I deeply respect your concern, it is unhealthy that people are so upset when I haven’t even been online yet today and am only learning of this controversy Now I don’t know what happened and I won’t make a rash statement – I’m not a citizen of this country.”
She then indicated that she would not respond immediately because she needed time to “find out the state of affairs” and did not want to “say something that would create an international scandal.”
She clarified, however, that she should not be held responsible for the man’s actions: “I am not him. I will not make a statement every time he does something. I can only send ‘love in a suffering world’.
Another fan posted on your position at the moment.
A fair comment, to which Grimes responded: “I’m happy to speak out against Nazism – and the alt-right. Would that help clear things up? I just had breakfast, I have to catch a plane and I’m still wondering how to approach things diplomatically because I feel overwhelmed by events. But if there are concerns about this, I’m happy to clear things up in a meaningful way.”
Elon Musk, for his part, has not yet officially denounced Nazism. Instead, he responded to the backlash by posting: “Frankly they need better cheap shots. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is so tired.”
The Nazi salute, made famous by Adolf Hitler, is illegal in several countries, including Germany – but not the United States.
A Berlin judge, Kai-Uwe Herbst, told the Berliner Zeitung that a deliberate thrust of the right arm into the air is sufficient evidence to prosecute a person under German law. However, he added that it would also be necessary to prove that the person concerned knew it was a Hitler salute and that there was malicious intent.
-For its part, the Anti-Defamation League does not call Musk’s gesture a Nazi salute. She called it an “awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm” on X. She added: “All parties should give each other some grace.”
Still, Musk’s move sparked great controversy and concern, especially as he has been repeatedly criticized for sharing right-wing content on X and apparently supporting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. He also recently supported the German far-right populist party AfD.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” he wrote on X.
Musk recently invited AfD leader Alice Weidel to his platform in the evening for a discussion covering everything from energy policy to the party’s neo-Nazi associations. During the discussion, Ms. Weidel said that her party defended the opposite of what Hitler stood forclaiming that Hitler was a “socialist” while the Nazi leader was openly anti-communist.
Italian media reported that Andrea Stroppa, a Musk confidant who connected him with far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, posted Musk’s clip with the caption: “The Roman Empire is back from the Roman salute”.
Mr. Stroppa then deleted his message, Italian media reported.
Indeed, many defended Mr. Musk’s gesture by saying it was the Roman salute.
Mr. Stroppa then posted that “this gesture, which some have taken for a Nazi salute, is simply that of Elon, who has autism, expressing his feelings by saying: ‘I want to give you my heart’” .
Whatever the explanations and excuses, Musk’s salvation delighted the extremistswho posted their approval online.
Christopher Pohlhaus, the leader of the notorious neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, posted the clip of Musk’s salute on Telegram with the caption: “I don’t care if this was a mistake. I’m going to revel in all the crying on That”.
“Amazing things are already happening lmao,” posted Andrew Torba, the founder of the far-right Christian nationalist social media platform Gab, while a section of the white nationalist group White Lives Matter posted a note on Telegram saying : “Thank you for (sometimes) hearing us, Elon. The white flame will rise again.”
