Led By Donkeys make their views known about Elon Musk on a Tesla factory
Elon Musk’s Berlin gigafactory has been hit by a protest after he gave what appeared to be a fascist salute at a US political rally.
An image of his ‘Nazi’ salute was projected onto the factory walls, with the word ‘Heil’ added in front of the Tesla logo.
Another message spelled out: ‘Boycott Tesla’ on the Berlin factory. The stunt, put together by Germany’s Centre for Political Beauty and the UK-based group Led By Donkeys, also projected a 5-minute video showing how Musk has continuously backed the far-right across Europe.
Musk’s gesture has been likened to a Nazi salute by millions around the globe – but others have claimed it was a gesture taken ‘out of context’.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, said: ‘Everyone can say what he wants even if he is a billionaire. What we do not accept is if this is supporting extreme Right positions.’
Addressing Trump supporters just hours after the Republican candidate was sworn in as the 47th US president, Musk hailed the electoral outcome as ‘no ordinary victory’.
‘I just want to say thank you for making it happen,’ said Musk, the owner of SpaceX, X and Tesla and the richest person on earth at the Capital One Arena in Washington.
‘This was a fork in the road of human civilization. This one really mattered. Thank you for making it happen! Thank you!’
Musk then signed off his speech with what seemed to be a Nazi salute: That familiar yet sinister gesture, slapping right hand to heart before arm shooting out upwards, fingers together and palm down.
The tech billionaire, who has been tasked with running Trump’s newly-created ‘Department of Government Efficiency’, then turned and performed the same gesture for a second time before exiting the stage.
A spokesman for the Centre for Political Beauty, who was behind the stunt in Berlin, said police had not intervened to stop the projection – ‘since we are still not in Elon Musk’s dream state’.
They also promised that there ‘is more to come’.
Though Musk has taken harsh criticism for the salute, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a New York-based organisation that works to combat antisemitism, examined the gesture and responded with undeniable grace.
They define a Nazi salute as ‘raising an outstretched right arm with the palm down’. Still, in the event, they downplayed the incident, and said Musk’s gesture was 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.
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