Elon Musk calls out Wikipedia an "extension of legacy media propaganda" for referencing the debate over his "Nazi" salute

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, and called out Wikipedia for being an "extension of legacy media propaganda." Musk responded to another user who uploaded a screenshot from a Wikipedia page talking about a particular arm gesture that he made during his speech at Trump's inauguration event.

The user (@TheRabbitHole84) wrote:

"Wikipedia is an extension of legacy media."

To this, Musk responded by tweeting:

"Since legacy media propaganda is considered a 'valid' source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda!"

The controversy began on Monday, January 20, 2025, after Elon Musk placed his right hand on his heart first, before thrusting it in the air ahead of him, while thanking the people for "making it happen." According to reports by BBC, dated January 22, he made the same gesture once again, facing the people sitting behind him.

The debate began when many compared the gesture to a Nazi salute, however, others disagreed. Elon Musk further responded to the claims and speculations made by netizens, and wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter:

"Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."

The latest tweet by Musk about Wikipedia was in connection to the same controversy where the page reported the incident and mentioned how the gesture was compared to a Nazi salute.

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Several experts expressed their opinions on Elon Musk's hand gesture being compared to a Nazi salute

Apart from netizens online, several experts also shared their opinions on Elon's hand gesture during the speech at Donald Trump's inaugural ceremony. BBC reported a statement made by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University. According to Ruth:

"Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too."

Anti-Defamation League, an organization aimed at fighting antisemitism, however, had a different point of view. The organization posted a tweet from its official X account. According to the tweet,

"It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute."

While netizens and experts debated on what the hand gesture implied, Andrea Stroppa, a close associate of Elon Musk shared the clip with the hand gesture, along with a caption that read:

"Roman Empire is back starting from Roman salute."

According to BBC, the Roman salute was primarily used by Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party, before being adopted by Hitler in Germany. As per Italian media, Andrea, however, later deleted the post. Later, in a tweet dated January 21, Andrea claimed that Elon had autism and it was his way of expressing his feelings.

Andrea even wrote that the Tesla CEO "disliked" extremists. The tweet read:

"That gesture, which some mistook for a Nazi salute, is simply Elon, who has autism, expressing his feelings by saying, "I want to give my heart to you," and that is exactly what he communicated into the microphone. ELON..."

As aforementioned, Musk had denied making any implications to the Nazi salute with that arm gesture.