A video of ultra-rich US tech mogul Elon Musk making a one-handed gesture during a speech at Donald Trump’s rally on Monday has gone viral, with internet users comparing it to a Nazi salute.
“This was not a traditional victory. It was a turning point in the course of human civilisation,” said Musk, a close ally of Trump.
“This really matters. Thank you for making this possible! Thank you,” he said, placing his right hand over his heart and extending his hand upwards with palm down and fingers joined.
He then made the same gesture to those standing behind him.
After the gesture, Musk said, “My heart aches for you. Thank you so much for guaranteeing the future of civilisation.”
However, Musk dismissed the criticism.
“Frankly, they need better booby traps. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is getting very tiring,” he posted on his social media platform X. History student Ruth Ben-Ghiat said the gesture was “a Nazi salute — and an exceptionally belligerent one, too.” Claire Aubin, a history scholar specializing in Nazism in the US, also said Musk’s gesture was a “Sieg Heil,” or Nazi salute. “My expert conclusion is that you are fine, you should avert your eyes,” she posted on X, adjusting to those who found the gesture was an obvious reference to the Nazis. “Musk made a burlesque gesture, not a Nazi salute” The Anti-Defamation Alliance (ADL), an organization set up to combat anti-Semitism that has criticized Elon Musk in the past, defended his gesture. “It appears that Elon Musk made a burlesque gesture in a moment of excitement, not a Nazi salute,” the organization wrote on X. Another history scholar, Aaron Astor, also supported Musk. “I have criticized Elon Musk many times for allowing neo-Nazis to pollute this platform,” he wrote on X, adding: “But this action is not a Nazi salute.” One customer also pointed out that Musk had traveled to Auschwitz, the Nazis’ largest concentration camp, last year, where more than one million people were killed. “Elon Musk traveled to Auschwitz and then to Israel last year to learn about the Holocaust and Jewish history. Anyone attempting to portray him as a Nazi is deliberately deceiving the public. This was an inappropriate hand signal, not a deliberate Nazi salute,” he wrote on X.
