Elon Musk "Great Replacement Theory" Tweets / Antisemitism Controversy

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Overview

Elon Musk "Great Replacement Theory" Tweets or Elon Musk Antisemitism Controversy refers to the fallout from Twitter / X owner Elon Musk amplifying and appearing to agree with a Twitter user's contentious thoughts about Western Jews in mid-November 2023, points of which aligned with the antisemitic Great Replacement conspiracy theory. As a result, Twitter hemorrhaged advertising partners and Tesla's board of directors began to call for Musk's suspension from duties.

Background

On November 15th, 2023, Twitter user @CWBOCA posted a video of a PSA in which a father chastises his son for posting "Hitler was right" online. He wrote, "You got something you want to say? Why don't you say it to our faces…" (shown below).

In response, Twitter user @breakingbaht^[1] replied, "Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them. I'm deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much."

To this comment, Elon Musk^[2] then replied with, "You have said the actual truth" (shown below).

Musk elaborated further, writing,^[3] "The ADL [Anti-Defamation League] unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat. It is not right and needs to stop."

Online Reactions

Many on social media subsequently pointed out that @breakingbaht's tweet on November 15th, 2023, echoed the Great Replacement Theory, a controversial conspiracy theory that posits unknown powers want to replace white people with immigrants from other nations. The theory was notably cited as a motivation behind the 2018 Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting.

Shortly after this, numerous commenters expressed their shock that Musk appeared to agree with the theory as it generated discourse into the following days. For example, on November 16th, Twitter user @MattBinder^[4] expressed outrage at the tweets, gaining over 2,000 retweets and 9,300 likes in one week (shown below, left). Also that day, user @ShadowTodd^[5] expressed outrage in two tweets that the tweets weren't more intensely covered in the media, gaining over 700 retweets and 5,000 likes combined in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

Developments

The media began covering Elon Musk's contentious tweets over the following days in mid-November 2023 as articles from CNN,^[6] CNBC,^[7] The Guardian^[8] and others were written about the developing controversy. In response to the growing backlash, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino^[9] attempted to quell the outcry, saying X is committed to combatting antisemitism (shown below).

Despite the post, advertisers began leaving Twitter in droves. According to reports, Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery and Apple all pulled advertising from Twitter as a result of Musk's tweets.^[10]

On November 17th, 2023, Media Matters^[11] then reported that major brands were having their ads placed next to posts with white nationalist hashtags and content. Musk subsequently filed a lawsuit against the publication for the report.^[12]

On November 19th, Elon Musk^[14] denied he was antisemitic, saying in an X post, "I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all" (shown below).

Discontent also brewed within Tesla's board of directors due to Musk's posts. On November 20th, 2023, Jerry Braakman, President of First American Trust, wrote a statement arguing that "Tesla’s board should put Musk on leave for 30 to 60 days and require him to attend empathy training and/or therapy."^[13]