Elon Musk has sparked controversy over a one-armed gesture he made while addressing a crowd at an event celebrating Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Speaking at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., Musk thanked attendees for their support, placing his right hand over his heart before extending the same arm straight ahead. He then repeated the motion for the audience behind him. Many on X (formerly Twitter), the social media platform he owns, compared the gesture to a Nazi salute.
In response to the criticism, Musk dismissed the accusations, posting on X: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
Historians specializing in fascism, including Claire Aubin and New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, asserted that the motion resembled a “sieg heil” salute, historically associated with Adolf Hitler’s regime. Andrea Stroppa, a close associate of Musk, initially shared a video of the gesture with the caption, “Roman Empire is back starting from Roman salute,” before later deleting the post.
Stroppa later defended Musk, attributing the gesture to his autism and emphasizing that he was merely expressing gratitude. “That gesture, which some mistook for a Nazi salute, is simply Elon expressing his feelings by saying, ‘I want to give my heart to you,’” Stroppa wrote.
Despite the controversy, some organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, defended Musk, suggesting the gesture was “an awkward moment of enthusiasm” rather than an intentional Nazi salute.
Musk, who has increasingly aligned himself with right-wing politics, has been appointed by Trump to co-lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency.
