Elon and a Nazi salute?

Regardless of whether the South Africa-born Musk intended the salute as a “Sieg Heil” salute favored by the followers of Adolf Hitler in World War II, as some online commentators have suggested, it was eagerly received that way by extremists online.

Christopher Pohlhaus, the leader of the notorious neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, posted the clip of Musk’s salute on Telegram with a lightning-bolt emoji (evocative of the Nazi SS) and the caption: “I don’t care if this was a mistake. I’m going to enjoy the tears over it.”

Another neo-Nazi leader, Christopher Hood, who founded the New England race-separatist movement NSC-131, also posted the clip to Telegram with the emojis ⁉and 😁.

Andrew Torba is the founder of the far-right Christian Nationalist social media platform Gab, which pioneered AI-powered Nazi chatbots. He shared the clip on his account with the caption: “Incredible things are happening already lmao.”

Far-right author Keith Woods, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has called a “self-described ethno-nationalist and antisemite,” shared the clip in a post on X, writing: “Ok maybe woke really is dead.”

Thomas Sewell, an Australia-based neo-Nazi, whose Telegram avatar is a picture of himself throwing a Roman salute, posted the video of Musk calling it a “Donald Trump White Power moment.”

The Proud Boys Ohio chapter posted to a clip of the Musk video to its Telegram channel with the text, “Hail Trump!”

A chapter of the white nationalist group White Lives Matter posted a note of appreciation on Telegram, along with a picture of a banner drop the group had previously executed at a freeway overpass reading: “Elon Musk Stop White Genocide.” The Telegram caption read, “Thanks for (sometimes) hearing us, Elon. The White Flame will rise again.”