Martina Navratilova has backed ex-Donald Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon in his criticism of Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and Elon Musk. Bannon asked them to go back to South Africa in light of the trio's stance on the H1B visa controversy.
Musk has been vocal about the immigration issue in the US, recently stating that the H1B visa program was broken and needed to be reformed. This statement also received backing from David Sacks, a former PayPal executive.
The controversy stems from a division in Trump's inner circle heading into his second term as US President, with one group supporting the program and another opposing it. Musk has been defensive of the idea, arguing that Americans needed an influx of talented software programmers and engineers from abroad, the main beneficiaries of the H1B program.
Steve Bannon, however, is not in favor of the program. In a recent interview, he opined that the immigration systerm has been gamed by tech moguls like Musk, PayPal co-founder Thiel, and Sacks, while leaving the commonfolk in US furious.
Bannon blasted the $15 billion-worth Thiel (source: Celebrity net worth), Sacks, and Musk over their South African heritage and wondered why they were so interested in what happened in the USA.
“Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Elon Musk, are all white South Africans...go back to South Africa. Why do we have the most racist people on earth, white South Africans making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?” Steve Bannon said.
Bannon also had choice things to say about Musk, who is worth $425 billion (source: celebrity net worth), stating that he was a truly evil guy who had to be taken down.
“He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down,” Bannon said. “Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it; I’m not prepared to tolerate it anymore.”
Navratilova noticed Bannon's attack on the Big Tech trio and immediately approved it on social media.
"For once I agree with Steve," Navratilova wrote on Twitter (now X), a platform which is, ironically, owned by Elon Musk.
Martina Navratilova has been very critical of Elon Musk in the past
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In the past, Martina Navratilova has been very vocal about her thoughts on Elon Musk, especially after he took over Twitter (and renamed it to X). When it recently came out that his social media site actively removed verification from influencers who criticized Musk over his H1B visa stance, Navratilova was among the first to call out the tech billionaire.
So much free speech, right Elon???" Martina Navratilova said.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion has also been critical of Donald Trump since he sealed a second term as US President, beating Kamala Harris in the 2024 elections.