Tesla CEO Elon Musk lashed out at businessman and philanthropist George Soros after the billionaire investor sold his entire stake in the US-based electric vehicle company. In a tweet on Tuesday, Musk compared George Soros with the X Men villain – Magneto saying that the character reminded him of the former. “Soros reminds me of Magneto,” he tweeted.
Soros reminds me of Magneto
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2023
Although Musk apologised for the same later, he noted that it would be unfair to X-Men villain Magneto to compare him to George Soros. Explaining his stance for not liking Soros, the SpaceX boss claimed that the billionaire investor is someone who ‘hates humanity’ and ‘wants to erode the very fabric of civilization’.
I’d like apologize for this post
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2023
It was really unfair to Magneto
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2023
This led to a huge debate on Twitter, in which several users compared the holocaust roots of individuals and talked about their good and evil intentions. In his tweet, the Tesla CEO wrote, “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.” Some users, however, highlighted that Musk’s tweet was the result of his disappointment in George Soros who dumped his stakes.
You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2023
This is not the first time that Musk – who has nearly 140 million followers on Twitter – has voiced his opinion on the micro-blogging platform. Many of his tweets also previously landed him in trouble with the public and regulatory bodies. Despite the fact that stakeholders in his firms disagree with him, the billionaire has time and again defended his decision to communicate his views publicly. He told CNBC, “I will say what I want to say, and if the result is that I lose money, so be it.”
In 2018, the Tesla owner faced the consequences of a tweet where he had claimed that he would increase the share value of Tesla Private to $420 per share. However, when he wasn’t able to do the same, the Tesla Shareholders sued him resulting in the imposed condition that his Tesla-related tweets had to be approved by lawyers before he posted them. He also had to pay $20 million to settle the lawsuit.
Since Musk took over the company last year, Twitter’s advertising revenue has dropped drastically. Last week, he announced that NBC Universal ad executive Linda Yaccarino would succeed him as the CEO of the social media giant.