Elon Musk insists he supports trans rights after sharing childish meme mocking people’s pronouns
SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (BRITTA PEDERSEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Elon Musk, the billionaire head of Tesla and SpaceX, said Wednesday (16 December) that he “absolutely supports trans [sic] but all these pronouns are an aesthetic nightmare.”
Cool! Thanks for the input, Elon!
Musk took to Twitter to react to the backlash he has faced for sharing a meme that mocked users for listing their pronouns in their bios.
Responding to an article by CleanTechnica which was captioned “Real Friends Interrupt You When You Are Making A Mistake”, the 49-year-old sought to stress his support for LGBT+ rights.
Yet, he dubbed “all these pronouns” an “aesthetic nightmare” – a gentle reminder that he named his child X Æ A-Xii.
Musk added “oh and umm…” while quoting a three-year-old tweet from Telsa that said the company scored 100/100 “for the fourth year in a row” in the Human Rights Campaign’s equality index.
Oh and umm … https://t.co/jtg944ERCy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2020
Each year, the LGBT+ charity ranks companies as part of its Corporate Equality Index, analysing business policies and practices and how they benefit, if at all, LGBT+ employees and rights.
But Charlotte Clymer, a former HRC press secretary, squashed his boosterism, clarifying that, you know, “sh**ting on people’s pronouns” isn’t exactly LGBT+ equality.
“Most of that score is based on 1) policies protecting against discrimination, such as respecting pronouns and 2) maintaining an inclusive culture, such as respecting pronouns,” she wrote.
“Points can also be deducted for things like… this tweet.”
Not sure what made you wake up today and think "you know what, I'll shit on people's pronouns", but that's kinda the opposite of LGBTQ inclusivity. Thank goodness you apparently have HR personnel in place who know what they're doing. You should ask them to brief you.— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2020
“Not sure what made you wake up today and think, ‘You know what, I’ll s**t on people’s pronouns,’ but that’s kinda the opposite of LGBTQ inclusivity.
“Thank goodness you apparently have HR personnel in place who know what they’re doing. You should ask them to brief you.”
Elon Musk mired by controversy for sharing anti-trans meme
Musk, who was once fined $20 million by security regulators for a tweet about taking Tesla private, often uses his Twitter account to share obtuse, provocative memes and messages.
And in an unwanted sequel to his claim that “pronouns suck”, Musk – known for his union-busting practices – shared a meme earlier this week deriding Twitter users who put their pronouns in their bios.
pic.twitter.com/qbNT1dUsED— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 14, 2020
Musk tweeted a meme of a British Redcoat who “love to oppress” fighting during the American Revolutionary War, rubbing his blood-covered hands on his face, captioned: “When you put he/him in ur bio.”
The background of the meme is the 1786 John Turnbell painting The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec. The oil painting depicts the American general Richard Montgomery at the Battle of Quebec in 1775 during the Invasion of Quebec.
The tweet immediately stirred up controversy, with countless users accusing Musk of thinly-veiled transphobia.
