Elon Musk makes pathetic pronouns ‘joke’ in tweet calling for Dr Anthony Fauci to be prosecuted
Elon Musk and Dr Anthony Fauci. (Credit: Getty Images)
Elon Musk has claimed LGBTQ+ people are “forcing” their pronouns on others in a bizarre series of tweets calling for immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci to be jailed.
Dr Fauci, 81, who served as a leading member of the White House Covid-19 response team, has largely been praised for his response to the pandemic. Fauci has, however, been subject of many right-wing memes and conspiracy theories by people who believe Covid-19 is a “hoax”.
Twitter owner Musk, who predicted the Covid-19 pandemic would end in April 2020, wrote: “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci”.
Musk added, in a second tweet, that he believes Dr Fauci’s funding of Covid-19 research “killed millions of people”, and he “lied to Congress”, though he didn’t specify what he believes Dr Fauci lied about.
He also posted several memes comparing Dr Fauci to a character from Lord of the Rings, mocking a push for “more lockdowns”.
Several far-right US politicians, including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andy Biggs, replied to the mocking tweet, with Greene telling Musk she “affirms your pronouns”.
Andy Biggs replied to Musk’s Tweet implying that there will be a Republican push to prosecute Dr Fauci, saying: “We’ll be bringing him in soon.”
Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly criticised Musk’s tweets, saying: “Elon, please don’t mock and promote hate toward already marginalized and at-risk-of-violence members of the #LGBTQ+ community. They are real people with real feelings.
“Furthermore, Dr Fauci is a dedicated public servant whose sole motivation was saving lives.”
Musk responded that LGBTQ+ people are “forcing your pronouns upon others”, which is neither “good nor kind”.
The billionaire’s 18-year-old daughter reportedly came out as trans and filed for a name change in June of this year, claiming she does not “wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Her mother Justine Wilson, former wife of the Tesla CEO, said she was “very proud” of her daughter after she announced her name change.
Musk himself has pushed anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in the past. His tweet in 2020 claimed that “pronouns suck”, and was followed up by several mocking memes about brands changing their logos for Pride Month.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), along with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other groups, has found that use of anti-LGBTQ+ slurs has skyrocketed on Twitter since Musk’s takeover of the site, rising by at least 1,458 times a day.
Additionally, offensive comments against Black people had risen to 3,876 times a day, according to reports from The New York Times.
“Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist, and homophobe that Twitter was open for business,” CCDH chief executive Imran Ahmed said.
