In a ZDF newscast last week, the presenter falsely claimed that the US tech mogul had called for a “hunt for migrants” in Northern Ireland
US-based tech mogul Elon Musk has said he is taking legal action against German state broadcaster ZDF over claims that he incited anti-migrant violence in Northern Ireland.
Anti-immigration unrest erupted in Belfast last week after a Sudanese asylum seeker allegedly carried out a stabbing attack that left a local resident blind in his left eye. After the video of the incident went viral, rioters attacked homes, torched vehicles, and clashed with police in the city.
In a post on his X platform on Monday, Musk wrote that “legal action is being taken against ZDF for their outrageous lies.”
“During the lawsuit against them, we will find out exactly which cretin wrote this terrible lie,” he added in a subsequent post.
The world’s first trillionaire and a vocal critic of migration policies in multiple Western countries, including the UK, took issue with the ZDF Heute live broadcast last Friday devoted to the events in Northern Ireland. In it, the presenter claimed that a “racist mob then hunts down migrants. A British far-right extremist [Tommy Robinson] and tech billionaire Elon Musk called for it.”
ZDF has since admitted that the anchor’s wording was “imprecise and therefore misleading.”
“Tommy Robinson called for protests after the knife attack in Belfast. The post was shared by Elon Musk,” the media outlet clarified.
Nevertheless, Musk’s lawyer, Joachim Steinhofel sent a cease-and-desist letter to the German broadcaster on Tuesday, describing the statement in question as a “defamatory and slanderous allegation,” according to Die Welt.
The lawyer reportedly warned that unless ZDF issues a declaration of discontinuance, Musk will be advised to “initiate legal proceedings immediately.”
Shortly before the unrest broke out in Belfast, Musk posted a message on X, saying that “only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”
He also shared a post from Robinson listing dozens of protest locations across the UK.
This quickly drew the ire of the ruling Labour Party, with its chair Anna Turley accusing Musk of exploiting the stabbing attack and stoking tensions in Northern Ireland.
The incident involving the 30-year-old Sudanese man came shortly after another similar high-profile case triggered anti-immigration protests across the UK. Earlier this month, a police body-cam video was released depicting the last minutes of 18-year-old university student Henry Nowak, who was fatally stabbed by a Sikh man last December.
The assailant, Vickrum Singh Digwa, who has since been sentenced to life in prison, falsely claimed to arriving police officers that he had been the victim of a racist attack. The officials believed him and handcuffed dying Nowak, ignoring his repeated statements that he had been stabbed.
Musk posted profusely about the case as well, suggesting that the British police were biased against white people.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in turn, slammed the Tesla and SpaceX CEO for “interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division.”
Musk previously took swipes at Starmer personally, accusing him of failing to prosecute grooming gangs largely made up of South Asian men who sexually abused girls. The UK prime minister previously served as chief public prosecutor from 2008 to 2013.
