Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Elon Musk gave what appeared to be a Nazi salute at a rally at Capitol One Arena following Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DC on Monday, and whatever Musk’s intention was with the salute, Americans on social media are extremely uncomfortable as they debate what it could be. means for The future of the country.
“This one is really important. And I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk told a crowd of supporters about Trump’s re-election.
The billionaire placed his right hand on his chest before forcefully extending his hand upward with his fingers fully expanded. Kasturi then turned and saluted the crowd behind him again. After the salute, Kasturi told the crowd, “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”
one pic.twitter.com/ISwJiM4EsH
—Haran Rupar (@atrupar) January 20, 2025
News cameras captured the salute of some people angleIncluding another one to the right of Kasturi, which was broadcast online Reuters. The salute used by the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s was unmistakably similar.
Mainstream news outlets are hesitant to describe the salute as something that is clearly associated with Nazism. as NBC News It wrote, “Musk then forcefully touched his heart, before raising his hand to greet supporters.”
The New York Times Liveblog Kasturi failed to mention the salute at all, instead noting that he, “briefly spoke at a rally at Capital One Arena and promised to take DOGE, its cost-cutting efforts, ‘to Mars.'”
The Getty Images photo shows a caption on its website read that“Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.”
The response online is “What?” Reading seemed to be in complete shock with the usual tweets. Others have sarcastically referred to Kasturi’s greeting as being extremely common.delicate“
And Trump’s presidency begins with a Nazi salute to the world’s richest man. pic.twitter.com/iGZtTB2UZB
— Mr. Bit (@bitmastermatt) January 20, 2025
Some refer to the gesture as the “Roman salute”, which actually predates the Nazi era. But since the 1940s, the gesture has become fully associated with the Nazis, who created a fascist dictatorship that killed 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
Philip Bump of the Washington Post noted Bluesky Anyone trying to defend Mask’s salute as a “Roman salute” and not necessarily associated with the Nazis is not arguing in good faith.
An updated version of “It was a Roman salute” is “Actually, Buddhists also used the swastika.” If you used it after 1945, you know very well that the association has changed.
– Philip Bump (@pbump.com) January 20, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Kasturi himself shared his entire video short speech In X, even other users focused specifically on Nazi salutes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 20, 2025
Clearly people across social media were upset by what they see as the Trump administration’s embrace of fascism. But now that Musk has saluted one of the worst regimes of the 20th century, vulnerable people will be even more concerned about how bad things are going to get in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Extremists online celebrated Mask’s salutes, clearly realizing they were Nazi gestures.
This is projected to 2025 by the way. The version the libs were panicking about was a fake moderate version that we gaslighted into believing they were a joke. https://t.co/OmmfIozKts
— Anime Kaiser Willy II (@praesto04) January 20, 2025
Even some extremists still refer to it as the “Roman salute” when linking it to other neo-Nazi moments.
It’s been a long road since @Richard BispencerHail Trump speech in 2016 @EllenMaskIts speech is in progress @realDonaldTrumpIts opening day is in 2025
But after eight long years, the Roman salute is officially back in power pic.twitter.com/7kMducfgTw
— Augustus Invictus (@EmperorInvictus) January 20, 2025
But while a handful of Musk fans insisted the billionaire wasn’t actually doing the Nazi salute, Ian Miles Cheung, a far-right influencer, wrote that reporter Aaron Ruper edited the clip in a misleading way. It’s not entirely clear what Cheung seems to mean, since everyone can see the salute for themselves.
Left-wing campaigner Aaron Ruper inexplicably clips Elon Musk to make it look like he’s giving the Roman salute in celebration of America. Here is the part he omitted.
pic.twitter.com/egdtyD4ewM— Ian Miles Cheung (@stillgrey) January 20, 2025
Gizmodo attempted to reach Musk’s companies Tesla and X for comment but did not immediately receive a response. We’ll update this post when we hear back.
