Last weekend, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to X-formerly-Twitter, an app that he also owns, to declare that “unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right, Christianity will perish.”
The CEO provided no other context for the comment, which was posted on July 27. But the statement notably came shortly after the release of his recent interview with alt-right podcaster Jordan Peterson, in which the billionaire said that he is a “big believer in the principles of Christianity,” as well as amid accusations that the Paris Olympics had aired an offensively “woke” interpretation of the Last Supper that featured a diverse cast of performers, including drag queens.
Musk weighed in on the controversy, writing in a June 26 X post — published the evening before he declared that Christianity is at risk of perishing — that the performance was “extremely disrespectful to Christians.” He also responded with a 100 emoji to an outrage post declaring that if the Olympics had “dared to mock Muslims, Paris would be in flames right now.” (All of these accusations were ultimately baseless, however, as the scene was in fact a recreation of the the feast of Dionysus, which celebrates the Greek God of wine and festivity.)
Needless to say, Musk has the freedoms of both speech and religion to say whatever he feels like saying about Christianity. But some users, particularly in light of Musk’s outrage regarding the Definitely-Not-Last-Supper controversy, were quick to point out his hypocrisy: after all, in Musk’s current X profile picture, he’s literally wearing a suit of Satanic armor engraved with a goat-headed depiction of the pagan Baphomet idol and upside-down crosses.
“Elon’s brave contribution towards the preservation of Christianity,” Dilly Hussein, the deputy editor at the Islamic outlet 5Pillars, wrote in response to Musk’s post, including an armored photo of Musk in which the upside-down cross on his back is clearly visible.
“This you?” added X power user Jules Suzdaltsev, also affixed with a photo of Musks’s goat-headed armor.
https://twitter.com/DillyHussain88/status/1817482755548004607
Musk originally wore the suit to supermodel Heidi Klum’s 2022 Halloween party, at which Klum herself famously dressed as a worm.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587317099843796992
At the time, Musk’s costume drew ire from many Christians, who found the outfit disrespectful. The Gateway Pundit, a far-right digital publisher, even argued that it was “fair to question why the world’s richest man” and “major US Defense contractor” is “wearing the Baphomet coupled with inverted crosses as if its a badge of honor.” These are obviously some deeply conspiratorial claims, but the juxtaposition remains.
Again, at the end of the day, Musk can believe and say what he wants to about Christianity. But when the pot is mistakenly calling the kettle sacrilegious, it’s hard to ignore the irony.
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