Over the years, Elon Musk—famous businessman known for his work in the SpaceX program—has amassed a few different controversies throughout the years. Not only in his fields of work, but also in the various speeches he has given, according to theweek.com.
Purchase of X
On April 14, 2022, Musk offered to purchase X, formally known as Twitter, at $54.20 per share, making the company worth roughly $43 billion. Initially, Twitter disliked the idea and implemented a method to stop his attempts at purchasing the company. This method, known as the poison pill provision, would decrease the prices of purchasing shares, which would thin out the amount Musk owned while also making Twitter more expensive. On Oct. 28, 2022, Musk secured a deal with them and bought the company for about $44 billion. He then renamed Twitter to X, according to abcnews.go.com.
After purchasing, Musk fired multiple high-ranking people within the company. Amongst these were the CEO, chief financial officer, chief legal officer and the general council, according to reuters.com.
Relationship with President Trump
Another controversy surrounding Musk is the close relationship between him and President Donald Trump. Musk donated about $250 thousand to Trump’s election in 2024. Musk even claimed that he was the President’s “first buddy.” A business insider also said that Musk was seen beside Trump on election night at the Mar-a-Lago beach house in Florida, according to theweek.com.
Head of Department of Government Efficiency
Trump appointed Musk as the head of The Department of Government Efficiency. While not being an official government department, DOGE has the goal of reducing the U.S.’s national debt and saving taxpayers money. While it is unclear how much money DOGE has saved and will continue to save, their X page has posted multiple updates on the cuts they have made to improve government spending. What has been controversial about this organization has been its cuts to the foreign aid agency and the work it has done to cancel Diversity Equality Inclusion programs, according to bbc.com.
Musk later said that he will reduce his role as head of DOGE down to two days per week and limit his political spending. He claims this is in order to shift his focus back towards the multiple businesses that he owns, according to theguardian.com.
The Arm Motion
During a speech to celebrate Trump’s inauguration, Musk put his right hand on his heart before extending it out towards the crowd. Along with this motion, he addressed the audience saying that “his heart went out to them.” This led to disputes throughout the internet of whether it was or was not a Nazi salute. The Anti-Defamation League said that Musk “made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute,” according to bbc.com.
However, the ADL disapproved of his action more harshly after he began to mock the online controversy. He did this by posting puns on X that reference Adolf Hitler and other Nazi generals, according to thehill.com.
“Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Gőring your enemies. His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming.” Musk posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
These jokes reference multiple Nazi members from WWII. “Hess” is a reference to Führer Rudolf Hess, who was a Nazi deputy to Hitler during WWII. “Gőring” is a reference to Hermann Gőring, who was a military leader as well as a war criminal. “Goebbels” references Joseph Goebbles, the minister of propaganda for the German Third Reich under Hitler. And finally “Himmler” alludes to Heinrich Himmler, who was a German Politician, police administrator and military commander. Himmler became the second most powerful person in the Third Reich, according to britannica.com.
