ΒιΆΉΣ°ΚΣ

Skip to main content

Elon Musk deletes post about Harris and Biden assassination after widespread criticism

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Share

Elon Musk has deleted a post on his social media platform X in which he said β€œno one is even trying to assassinate” U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris in the wake of an apparent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump while he was playing golf.

Musk, who has nearly 200 million followers on the social media site he bought for US$44 billion in 2022, has increasingly embraced conservative ideologies in recent years and endorsed Trump for president.

While he has removed posts in the past, Musk has also kept up and even doubled down on other such inflammatory comments. Last week, he made a joke about impregnating Taylor Swift after the singer posted an endorsement for Harris.

Early Monday, after taking down the post about the apparent Trump assassination, the 53-year-old billionaire wrote on the platform: β€œWell, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.”

The original post was in response to DogeDesigner, one of the 700 accounts that Musk follows, who asked: β€œWhy they want to kill Donald Trump?”

Musk's reply was quickly condemned by many X users, and β€œDeportElonMusk” began trending on X on Monday morning.

β€œViolence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates in response to Musk's post. β€œThis rhetoric is irresponsible.”

The Tesla CEO has previously posted conspiracy theories and feuded with world leaders and politicians. X is currently banned in Brazil amid a dustup between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court judge over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

He's also received criticism in the past for what critics said were posts encouraging violence.

Last month, for instance, the British government called on Musk to act responsibly after he used X to unleash a barrage of posts that officials said risked inflaming violent unrest gripping the country.

Musk said when he bought the platform then known as Twitter that protecting free speech β€” not money β€” was his motivation because, as he put it, β€œhaving a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.”

Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute, noted that Musk has long been trying to β€œpush the boundaries of free speech, in part by engaging in impulsive, unfiltered comments on a range of political topics.”

β€”βΆΔ”

Associated Press Writer Chris Megerian contributed to this story from Washington 

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.