Elon Musk, the richest individual on the planet and the world’s largest web troll, posted and then deleted a remark over the weekend during which he seemingly puzzled concerning the lack of assassination makes an attempt on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, following what authorities mentioned was a second assassination try on Donald Trump. Then he claimed he was merely joking, and insisted that the joke would have been extraordinarily humorous in context.
Musk was responding to a consumer on X who wrote, “Why they wish to kill Donald Trump?” The X proprietor, who has endorsed the ex-president, replied: “And nobody is even attempting to assassinate Biden/Kamala.” His submit included a thinking-face emoji.
Not surprisingly, the social media musing drew intense backlash. In a not-very-helpful pair of follow-ups on Monday, Musk wrote: “Nicely, one lesson I’ve discovered is that simply because I say one thing to a gaggle and so they snigger doesn’t imply it’s going to be all that hilarious as a submit on X.” In one other, he mentioned: “Seems that jokes are WAY much less humorous if individuals don’t know the context and the supply is obvious textual content.”
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In actuality, the “lesson” Musk ought to have discovered is that it’s past the pale to seemingly recommend it’s unusual that nobody has tried to assassinate particular people, significantly given the attain of his account, which is adopted by greater than 197 million individuals. Except for that, one wonders who made up the gathering of individuals initially on the receiving finish of Musk’s “hilarious” joke, and what context he thinks would have improved the response of your common X consumer.
In a press release, the White Home known as Musk’s submit “irresponsible” and echoed remarks during which Biden and Harris mentioned there isn’t a room for political violence in the USA. “Violence ought to solely be condemned, by no means inspired or joked about,” spokesman Andrew Bates mentioned.
Musk is, after all, no stranger to creepy, outrageous social media posts. Final week, after Taylor Swift endorsed Harris and signed her submit “Childless Cat Woman,” the Tesla CEO wrote: “Fantastic Taylor … you win … I offers you a toddler and guard your cats with my life.”
