The tech mogul’s post on social media was offensive, the Anti-Defamation League said
A top antisemitism watchdog has accused tech billionaire Elon Musk of making light of the Holocaust, after US President Donald Trump’s ally mocked his critics with a social media post filled with Nazi puns.
The owner of SpaceX, Tesla and X raised some eyebrows on Monday when he emotionally extended his right hand during a speech on Trump’s Inauguration Day. While some reacted to the gesture with lighthearted memes, others accused the mogul of performing a Nazi salute.
Musk has blamed “radical leftists” for the backlash. On Thursday, he made a satirical post on X that contained references to the leaders of Nazi Germany.
“Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Goering your enemies!” he wrote. “His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming.”
Podcaster Dave Rubin wrote in a comment to Musk’s post: “Humor is the fascist way to defeat these people!” Musk replied: “They can’t stand being mocked.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) quickly condemned the businessman. “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,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X on Thursday.
The ADL released a separate statement, saying that “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.”
The Jewish advocacy group previously defended Musk, suggesting that the billionaire had “made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also defended Musk, describing him as “a great friend of Israel” who was being “falsely smeared.”
Musk traveled to Israel shortly after the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza. In January 2024, he visited the site of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland. According to the BBC, Musk laid a wreath and participated in a memorial service.
