In recent news, the White House has criticized Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X Corp., for promoting antisemitic and racist hate. This comes after Musk agreed with a social media post that accused "Jewish communities" of pushing "hatred against whites." Musk responded on his platform, X, stating that the post "said the actual truth."
White House spokesman Andrew Bates condemned Musk's promotion of antisemitic and racist hate, calling it "unacceptable" and stating that it goes against American values. The statement also referenced the recent deadly attacks in Israel by Hamas and described them as "the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust." Bates emphasized the responsibility to bring people together against hate and to speak out against those who compromise the safety of communities.
Both Tesla and X have not yet responded to CNBC's requests for comment on the White House's statement. This controversy is not the first time Musk has faced accusations of promoting antisemitic conspiracies. In 2018, he tweeted a comment about who owns the press, which led to accusations of antisemitism. Musk blamed a Twitter glitch for hiding another post in the thread that provided context clarifying his statement.
Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has allowed previously banned users, including a neo-Nazi website publisher, back on the platform. Musk's latest controversy has led some companies to distance themselves from him and his platform. IBM announced that it has paused advertising on X after finding its ads placed next to antisemitic content.
Despite the controversy, Musk continues to be involved in other ventures. He is the founder of SpaceX and has a NASA contract for the Starship spacecraft. SpaceX is set to attempt another launch of Starship this Saturday.