Twitter CEO and American businessman Elon Musk apologized for a tweet referencing the iconic X-Men villain Magneto.
Musk has long been vocal about his literacy in the world of traditionally nerdy content, sharing his take on franchises like Star Wars and HBO's PlayStation adaptation of The Last of Us.
In his earlier days, the billionaire even appeared in the 2010 MCU film Iron Man 2, showcasing his propensity for the world of Marvel as well.
However, these things are rarely kept in a vacuum for Musk, as they sometimes bleed into the political world for the Twitter executive.
Elon Musk's X-Men Tweet
After tweeting comparing billionaire philanthropist George Soros to the X-Men villain Magneto, Twitter CEO Elon Musk issued a joking apology on the social media site.
In a post commenting on his thought surrounding Soros, Musk wrote "Soros reminds me of Magneto," making a parallel between the Jewish super-villain and the Hungarian-American businessman.
After catching the eye of the Anti-Defamation League, Musk followed this initial tweet up with two new posts, first remarking that he "[would] like apologize for this post," then poking fun at his apology by saying, "It was really unfair to Magneto."
Soros, who is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor himself, has long been the subject of anti-semitic rhetoric and conspiracy theories, which have seen a rise on Twitter since Musk took over as CEO in October 2022.
Musk making this comparison to the X-Men villain, who traditionally hates humanity, comes with all sorts of connotations, further pushing some of the conspiracy-latent falsities pushed by some far-right online communities.
In response to the Tweets, Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt wrote from his personal Twitter account, "regardless of his intent" it is "not just distressing, it’s dangerous" to see this sort of facsimile being made by Musk, who has millions of followers on the platform:
“Soros often is held up by the far-right, using antisemitic tropes, as the source of the world’s problems. To see Elon Musk, regardless of his intent, feed this segment — comparing him to a Jewish supervillain, claiming Soros ‘hates humanity’ — is not just distressing, it’s dangerous: it will embolden extremists who already contrive anti-Jewish conspiracies and have tried to attack Soros and Jewish communities as a result.”
