Elon Musk has broken his silence after the serious accusations that he made a “Nazi salute” during his speech at Donald Trump’s inauguration rally.

The tech tycoon sparked intense outrage among the nation after some believed he made a stiff-armed Roman-style salute in front of Trump’s supporters – with the billionaire seemingly making an intentional movement with his hand not once, but twice.

Responding to the onslaught, Musk took to his social media platform X writing: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks.

“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” he added, accompanying it with a sleeping emoji.

Musk made the apparent gesture while speaking at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC where he was addressing Trump’s supporters following the inauguration.

At one point, he put his hand to his chest and said he felt it in his “heart.”

While speaking about his hopes of landing a man on Mars, the billionaire SpaceX founder passionately pounded his chest with his right arm before raising it stiffly to the sky.

He then turned his back to the audience and repeated the gesture as he faced an American flag hanging behind him.

“It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured,” he declared to the audience.

The controversial gesture sparked immediate backlash and confusion among fans due to it being eerily similar to that of Adolf Hitler’s infamous Nazi salute.

The Tesla CEO raised eyebrows again when he appeared to edit out the moment in question from a video he went on to share on X later that day.

In the clip posted on his account, the billionaire’s gesture, which he initially repeated twice, is missing from his nearly four-minute speech.

The footage did, however, include the second gesture, followed by Musk declaring, “My heart goes out to you” to the crowd.

Last modified: January 21, 2025