Elon Musk, who some believe gave a Nazi salute for a Trump crowd in January, is now condemning Nazi imagery—at least when it targets his company’s cars.
“Anyone who scrawls a swastika on a Tesla has obviously committed a hate crime,” the Tesla CEO wrote on X on Monday.
Musk’s sudden outrage over Nazi symbols comes weeks after he raised his arm in what many likened to a Nazi salute at an event celebrating President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
At the gathering, held at D.C.’s Capital One Arena, the MAGA billionaire placed his right hand over his heart before thrusting his arm straight ahead. He then repeated the gesture for the crowd behind him.
Rather than directly denying that it was a fascist salute, Musk dismissed the criticism with a vague post: “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is soo tired.”
His deflections quickly spiraled into a string of painfully cringe jokes referencing various Nazi war criminals on X, the platform he owns.
Musk’s comments on Monday came in response to a video circulating on social media of a Tesla owner confronting a man who had allegedly carved a swastika into their car.
In the video, the apparent owner of the Tesla repeatedly asked the man if he drew a swastika on the car.
“I’m sorry. I have nothing against your car, and I have nothing against you,” the man said.
“So why would you write a swastika on a Tesla?” the owner asked.
“Obviously I have something against Elon Musk, but that’s not the way to show my,” the man replied, before the owner interrupts him, “So Elon Musk owns that car?”
“No he owns the company,” the man said.
The alleged vandal appears to be Chadd Ritenbaugh from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who was charged with criminal mischief, two counts of harassment, and disorderly conduct by the Central Bucks Regional Police Department on March 24.
Police said footage from the Tesla’s side camera shows Ritenbaugh scratching the car “using an unknown object” in a Planet Fitness parking lot.
Musk’s post on Monday is part of a broader pattern of selectively denouncing hate speech while using his platform to amplify extremist conspiracy theories and figures.
In Nov. 2023, he faced backlash after he agreed with an anti-semitic post claiming Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites,” and also referenced “hordes of minorities” flooding Western countries.
Resharing the post, Musk commented “You have said the actual truth.” He has since apologized for the comment.
Musk, a senior advisor to Trump, also recently boosted a claim that Hitler wasn’t to blame for the Holocaust, sharing a post on X that read: “Stalin, Mao and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector workers did.”
Hitler’s reign from 1933 to 1945 led to the systematic murder of six million Jews in his pursuit of so-called racial purity.
Musk’s post was seemingly a dig at federal workers, thousands of whom have been fired by his Department of Government Efficiency in his crusade to slash “waste and fraud” from the government.
In an apparent revolt against the billionaire’s role at the Trump administration, Tesla showrooms, charging stations, and cars have been vandalized in attacks across the country.
