The Space X and Tesla owner appeared to perform the offensive gesture at Donald Trump’s inauguration rally on Monday.
Elon Musk’s daughter has spoken out publicly about her father’s controversial ‘Nazi salute’ on stage at Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington on Monday.
Musk took to the stage at the Capital One Arena shortly after Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States of America.
He thanked the crowd for “making it happen” before enthusiastically placing his right hand into the air straight in front of him.
Elon Musk does what looks like a Hitler salute after talking of victory at Trump inauguration, thanking supporters for assuring "the future of civilisation" pic.twitter.com/xp0kmJ5dFQ
— James Jackson (@derJamesJackson) January 20, 2025
The gesture was disturbingly similar to a Sieg Heil that was used as a greeting or salute in Nazi Germany – an act that is illegal in some countries.
The action came as he said: “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilisation is assured.”
Many took to Elon Musk’s social media platform to debate the meaning behind the gesture.
Users slammed the billionaire for performing the action while other argued it was merely a misinterpretation.
Now, the 53-year-old’s daughter Vivian Wilson, who has publicly criticised her father in the past, has commented on the controversial incident.
20-year-old Wilson and her twin brother were born to Musk’s first wife, author Justine Musk. The couple divorced in 2008.
Oh how I am here for Vivian (vivllainous) posting about spades ♠️ 😏 !!! pic.twitter.com/q5sGelngZc
— ✨MAMI 🧚♀️ (@Moms_know_) January 21, 2025
Without naming her father, she tweeted: “I’m just gonna say let’s call a spade a f**king spade.
“Especially if there were two spades done in succession based on the reaction of the first spade.”
She added: “I don’t know why y’all are reacting with such vigour, I’m clearly only talking about card suits.
“I mean I have ADHD and this was CLEARLY just an accident that people happened to interpret to mean something other than just card suits.
“After all, there’s no proof I’m not just talking about card suits. Y’know… people assuming that I’m not just talking about card suits just goes to show how dishonest people/the media can be.
“For those who can read between the lines, do y’all understand how f**king easy this is to do? Plausible deniability honey. Just saying.”
Musk has had a large involvement in Donald Trump’s push for a second term as US President, publicly backing the Republican.
His support was rewarded too, as Trump declared Musk would become lead on a new department to be known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE).
On Tuesday, Musk spoke out about the controversial ‘Nazi salute’, and of course he took to X to do so.
Frankly, they need better dirty tricks.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2025
The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired 😴 https://t.co/9fIqS5mWA0
Musk reposted an account which had taken a screenshot of one of his own tweets from May 2022 which read: “In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.
“But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold…”
Above this screenshot was the caption: “The salute hoax is just another part of the ‘dirty tricks campaign’.”
Quoting the post, Musk wrote: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”