Topline
Elon Musk—who drew criticism earlier this year after making a gesture many alleged was a Nazi salute—accused Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., of doing a Nazi salute on stage at an event for California Democrats on Saturday night, though the senator’s team insisted Sunday the gesture was clearly a wave.
Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the Oval … More
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reservedKey Facts
Booker was speaking at the California Democratic Convention Saturday night, and ended his speech by placing his hand on his heart and extending his arm toward the crowd in a motion Musk and others have said resembled the Nazi salute—alleging hypocrisy after Musk was criticized earlier this year.
“Cory Booker was obviously just waving to the crowd. Anyone who claims his wave is the same as Elon Musk’s gesture is operating in bad faith. The differences between the two are obvious to anyone without an agenda,” Booker spokesperson Maya Krishna-Rogers told Forbes in a statement.
Musk began sharing posts about Booker’s gesture around 9 p.m. EDT Saturday night, and he quote-tweeted a post about the incident and lack of media coverage with the caption, “Legacy media lies.”
He continued to tweet about it Sunday morning, when he shared a post showing Democratic leaders former President Barack Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass. and former presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton with their arms extended and the caption, “We know where Cory Booker learned his Nazi salute from”—and Musk added a “🤨” emoji.
Key Background
Musk drew criticism in January after he pounded his fist to his chest and extended his right arm into the air twice while speaking at an event for President Donald Trump’s inauguration. International leaders including Spain’s minister of labor and social economy and Germany’s health minister criticized the gesture, as did a number of Democrats. Musk didn’t explain why he made the motion, but said in posts on X at the time that Democrats were playing “dirty tricks” and that “the ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.” One month after Musk’s incident, another Trump ally, Steve Bannon—who was feuding with Musk at the time over his close relationship with Trump—was accused of giving a Nazi salute when he spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Bannon denied making the salute and told the Daily Mail it “was a wave to the crowd.”
Surprising Fact
After Musk was accused of making the motion, the Anti-Defamation League—a nonprofit working against antisemitism—said in a statement that Musk seemed to make “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute,” and urged people on “all sides (to) give one another a bit of grace.” The ADL had not publicly commented on the allegations against Booker, though Forbes has reached out for comment.
Chief Critic
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., also took to X Sunday morning to criticize Booker. In her post she said Democrats “were hyperventilating about this false smear of Elon,” when he was accused of doing the salute in January and added “the mainstream media is totally corrupt.” Stefanik also continued: “The American people are smart. Neither Elon Musk or @CoryBooker are giving the Nazi salute. Americans see thru this obvious and destructive double standard by the totally broken media and Democrat Party.” Musk responded to the post with, “they are such hypocrites,” presumably referring to the media.
Big Number
9. That’s how many times Musk had tweeted or shared posts about Booker’s gesture as of 12:55 p.m. EDT on Sunday.
Further Reading
Elon Musk ‘Salute’ Condemned By European Leaders, Democrats (Forbes)
French Far-Right Leader Cancels CPAC Speech After Steve Bannon’s Salute Draws Nazi Comparisons (Forbes)
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