Tech billionaire Elon Musk is under scrutiny after making hand gestures that some have compared to the Nazi salute during a speech celebrating Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.
Musk addressed Trump supporters at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025, shortly after Trump’s inauguration as the 47th U.S. president. He described the election outcome as “no ordinary victory” and emphasized its significance, calling it “a fork in the road of human civilization.”
Following his speech, Musk made a hand gesture where he thumped his right hand into his chest, then extended his arm upward with his palm facing down and fingers together. Musk repeated the gesture while facing the crowd behind him.
The gestures quickly sparked backlash online, with critics accusing him of mimicking the infamous Sieg Heil salute linked to Adolf Hitler. British journalist Owen Jones commented on X, saying, “This honestly could not look more like a Nazi salute.”
The gesture also drew scrutiny in Israeli media, with the newspaper Haaretz saying Musk appeared to conclude his remarks with a “‘Roman salute,’ a fascist salute most commonly associated with Nazi Germany”.
Others defended Musk, including The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), one of the most prominent organisations dedicated to opposing anti-Semitism, which said the billionaire had made an “awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute”.
“In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath,” the ADL said in a post on X.
“This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”
Al Jazeera did not immediately receive a response to requests for comment sent to Musk’s lawyer and a number of his companies.
Musk’s politics have shifted sharply right since he publicly came out in support of Trump after the Republican narrowly survived an attempted assassination in July.
Earlier this month, the billionaire hosted Alice Weidel, the leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany, for a conversation on his social media platform X after endorsing her party in February’s national elections.
