Elon Musk said his now-deleted X post about how “no one is even trying to assassinate” President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris was intended to be a joke.
The tech billionaire’s comment came after what the FBI is investigating as an “apparent assassination” attempt on former President Donald Trump on Sunday. Shots were fired in Trump’s vicinity while he was at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspect was taken into custody and charged with two federal counts: possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. In July, a gunman was killed after he shot Trump in the ear in an assassination attempt during a Pennsylvania rally.
Musk, who owns X, had posted a response to a user who had asked, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?” Musk, who took over X — then Twitter — in October 2022, has been known to elevate debunked conspiracy theories on the platform. He has also been a staunch Trump supporter.
His comment, which some users read as a form of incitement and others said was inaccurate, received widespread backlash on the platform, with some using the hashtag “#DeportElonMusk” to call out the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. Musk is an immigrant to the U.S., originally from South Africa, and has been highly critical of U.S. immigration and border policies.
Critics, including tech journalist Kara Swisher, zeroed in on Musk’s collaborations with the U.S. government in their criticisms. “He’s a defense contractor and has national security clearance and is tweeting incitements to violence. He needs a visit from the authorities asap,” Swisher wrote in a post on Threads, sharing an image of Musk’s tweet and referring to his reported government-issued security clearance.
On Monday, after removing the initial post, Musk wrote, “Well, 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.”
“Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text” he wrote in a second post on X.
Musk and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
