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This is a fake X post. We found no such post on Elon Musk’s X account.
Musk has posted on X responding to criticism that a gesture he made during his Inauguration Day speech resembled a fascist salute.
During an Inauguration Day speech, billionaire Elon Musk made a straight-arm gesture that some say looked like a fascist salute. Now, in response to the online debate, some social media users claimed Musk had clarified his intention.
A Jan. 22 X post shared a screenshot of a supposed Jan. 20 X post from Musk that included a photo of him making the gesture. Musk owns the social media platform X.
Musk supposedly wrote in the post, "What can I say? I got caught up in the moment. But it wasn’t a ‘seig heil.’ Why would I pledge allegiance to a nation 80 years dead? Why would I lionize a subdued and failed state? MAGA is the future, and will, in fact, succeed in all the ways Nazi Germany failed to."
(Screenshot from X)
The X user who shared the screenshot commented that Musk "could at least try to hide it."
Another X user shared the same screenshot and wrote, "No, it was a moment of truth! You know exactly what you did there!"
But the supposed Musk post in this image is fake.
PolitiFact searched Musk’s X account and found no such post. We contacted Musk, but did not hear back before publication. We also found no credible news reports about Musk making these remarks.
During his Jan. 20 speech at Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena, Musk thanked the crowd for electing President Donald Trump.
As he offered thanks, Musk put his right hand to his heart, then extended his hand to the crowd with his palm at a 45-degree angle. He turned around and repeated the gesture.
"Thank you for making it happen," Musk said. "Thank you. My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured."
Online commentators compared Musk’s gesture with the Nazi salute under Adolf Hitler. Others compared it with the "Roman salute," also known as the "fascist salute," which Italian fascists and later Nazi Germany adopted. Rolling Stone wrote that white nationalists and neo-Nazis celebrated Musk’s gesture.
Other social media users, though, said the gesture was meant to show Musk symbolically throwing his heart to the crowd, as he said "my heart goes out to you" immediately after the gesture.
The Anti-Defamation League posted on X that "this is a delicate moment" and "it seems (Musk) made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge."
Musk has responded on X to criticism of his gesture, but he has not stated his intention.
In a Jan. 20 X post, Musk called the criticisms "dirty tricks" and wrote that "the ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired."
Two days later, on Jan. 22, Musk posted, "The radical leftists are really upset that they had to take time out of their busy day praising Hamas to call me a Nazi."
Most recently, in a Jan. 23 post, Musk used the names of Nazi leaders to make puns about the criticisms against him.
"Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Göring your enemies! His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming," Musk wrote.
Musk’s post refers to Hilter’s deputy party leader Rudolf Hess; Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels; Nazi party leader and Gestapo creator Hermann Göring; and Hitler’s right-hand man Heinrich Himmler, who orchestrated the killings of millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
But Musk didn’t post on X that MAGA will "succeed in all the ways Nazi Germany failed to."
We rate this claim False.
PolitiFact Contributing Writer Caleb McCullough contributed to this report.
YouTube, "PBS NewsHour - WATCH: Elon Musk speaks at Donald Trump's post-inauguration celebration at Capital One Arena," Jan. 20, 2025
The Forward, "Where does the fascist 'Sieg Heil' Nazi German salute come from?," Sept. 19, 2022
Rolling Stone, "Right-Wing Extremists Are Abuzz Over Musk's Straight-Arm Salute," Jan. 20, 2025
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Rudolf Hess | Holocaust Encyclopedia," accessed Jan. 23, 2025
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Joseph Goebbels | Holocaust Encyclopedia," accessed Jan. 23, 2025
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Hermann Göring | Holocaust Encyclopedia," accessed Jan. 23, 2025
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Heinrich Himmler | Holocaust Encyclopedia," accessed Jan. 23, 2025
Elon Musk, X post, Jan. 20, 2025
Elon Musk, X post, Jan. 22, 2025
Elon Musk, X post, Jan. 23, 2025
Anti-Defamation League, X post, Jan. 20, 2025
X post, Jan. 22, 2025
X post, Jan. 22, 2025
X post, Jan. 20, 2025
X post, Jan. 20, 2025
X post, Jan. 20, 2025
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