MAGA MOMMA

Elon Musk’s Mom Urges Him to Sue Media Over Salute Coverage

Maye Musk claimed she has been the recipient of “so much hatred” following a CNN segment in which a panelist dared a GOP pundit who defended the salute to imitate the gesture on air.

Elon Musk is considering suing media outlets that called his gesture onstage at a post-inauguration rally a “Nazi” salute.

His mother is egging him on.

During the rally at Capitol One Arena in Washington last week, the MAGA billionaire and adviser to President Donald Trump twice raised his right arm at an upward angle.

Musk has dismissed any comparisons of his move to a fascist salute, calling it “tired.”

On Tuesday, the Tesla CEO radically escalated his pushback against the criticism, musing in a tweet that it would be a “good idea” to sue Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, after Walz gave his verdict on whether Musk gave a Nazi salute on her show Tuesday: “Of course he did.”

Play Video

Maye Musk, the billionaire’s mother, suggested he up the ante and sue other media outlets that have likened the gesture to a fascist salute, including CNN and PBS News.

She said she has been the recipient of “so much hatred” because of a CNN segment in which Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell challenged Republican pundit Scott Jennings, who defended Musk, to imitate the gesture.

Jennings evaded her request.

PBS’ NewsHour reported last week that Musk “gave what appeared to be a fascist salute.”

Some observers have said that, Musk’s intent aside, there is no argument about what the gesture he made represents.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor who studies fascism, tweeted that he made “a Nazi salute-and a very belligerent one too.“

Amy Spitalnick, the head of the nonprofit Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said “the salute itself should be enough to warrant condemnation and attention.”

GET OUTTA HERE

German Leader Slams ‘Disgusting’ Musk After Salute Debacle

Yasmeen Hamadeh

Journalist Michel Friedman, a former president of the European Jewish Congress, told Tagesspiegel that, of Musk’s gesture, that “taboos are being broken to a point that is dangerous for the entire free world” and slammed Musk for what he called the “masses of anti-semitic tweets” that are tolerated on his social media platform X.

Musk has endorsed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland in next month’s German federal election, and addressed a rally of the party’s supporters on Saturday, where he encouraged Germans to move beyond their “past guilt” over the Holocaust.

Several prominent figures have also raced to Musk’s defense.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the billionaire is being “falsely smeared.” The Anti-Defamation League excused his “awkward gesture,” though it condemned him for subsequently tweeting jokes about Nazis.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Sean Craig

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.