Topline
An ongoing rivalry between Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and the owner of the social media platform X, and Scottish politician Humza Yousaf has continued to escalate in recent days as the former claimed Yousaf is a “racist” and a “scumbag,” while the latter accused Musk of bring “one of the most dangerous men on the planet” who uses his wealth for “wicked evil.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the US Capitol on July 24, 2024.
Key Facts
Yousaf, a Muslim member of the Scottish Parliament and former First Minister of Scotland, first drew the ire of Musk in 2023 after an old speech resurfaced in which Yousaf said his country had a “problem of structural racism” and read out a list of top politicians, noting each of them as “white” as he went.
Musk called Yousaf a ” blatant racist” in response to the video, which was first recorded in 2020, and a spokesperson for the politician responded by saying, “Musk should use his position to tackle racism and hatred that goes unchecked on the social media platform he owns.”
The feud quieted after the initial spat until last week, when Musk was slammed for boosting a fake post from a far-right fringe group in the United Kingdom suggesting its prime minister was considering building “detainment camps” for protestors arrested in the county’s ongoing race riots, the government’s response to which has been heavily criticized by Musk on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Yousaf was asked about Musk’s involvement last week, and branded him as “one of the most dangerous men on the planet” who uses the “vast wealth at his fingertips… for some of the most wicked evil I have seen.”
Musk struck back the next day by calling Yousaf “super, super racist” and continued to slam the politician through the weekend, on Sunday posting that he was a “scumbag” who is “obviously super racist against white people.”
On Monday, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney defended his predecessor in a statement to BBC Scotland, calling Musk’s behavior “wholly unacceptable.”
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Former First Minister Humza Yousaf on June 27, 2024, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Key Background
The speech that launched Yousaf’s feud with Musk was given to the Scottish Parliament on June 10, 2020 but wasn’t scrutinized online until 2023. The speech went viral last year after clips taken out of context were posted that suggested Yousaf said there were too many white people in Scotland, sparking outrage in the country and abroad that the politician—the first Muslim ever elected to the Scottish Parliament—was anti-white. A fact check later done by Reuters, however, confirmed that the viral clips had been taken out of context, and they were part of a “wider discussion about racial injustice and the lack of people of color in positions of power in the Scottish Parliament and Government.” Musk’s initial response to the speech was posted as a reply to one of those 45-second clips posted to X that took the statements out of context.
Tangent
Yousaf isn’t the only foreign politician Musk has engaged with about international issues on X. Most recently, he’s caught the attention of British leaders for his criticism of police response to riots sparked by the fatal triple-stabbing of three children in Southport, England. The stabbings launched a series of far-right and counter protests that have seen hundreds arrested, and Musk has accused U.K. police of overly policing white protestors, posting that “civil war is inevitable” in Britain, labeling the prime minister as “two-tier Keir” and calling director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson “The Woke Stasi.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there is “no justification” for Musk’s claims. Last month, Musk repeatedly criticized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s handling of his country’s election—calling the president a “dictator” and accusing his government of “major election fraud.” Maduro then reportedly challenged Musk to a physical fight on national television in Venezuela, and Musk responded with a tweet saying “I accept.” Last year, Musk accused Canadian Prime Minister J ustin Trudeau of “crushing free speech” after the country passed a law requiring online streaming services be subject to regulatory controls, and he slammed Germany for its handling of migrants.
Further Reading
Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes reporter who covers breaking news with a frequent focus on the entertainment industry, streaming, sports news, publishing, pop culture and climate change. She joined Forbes in 2023 and lives in Dallas. She’s covered Netflix’s hottest documentaries, a surge of assaults reported on social media, the most popular books of the year and how climate change stands to impact the way we eat. Roeloffs was included on Editor & Publisher Magazine’s “ 25 Under 30” list in 2023 and worked covering local news in the greater Boston area from 2017 to 2023. She graduated with a double major in political science and journalism from Northeastern University. Follow Roeloffs for continued coverage of streaming wars, pop culture news and trending topics.
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