Tech billionaire Elon Musk has deleted a social media post about the lack of assassination attempts on United States President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris following widespread criticism.
In the wake of a second apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Sunday, Musk wrote in a post on X that “no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala” along with an emoji of a face with a raised eyebrow.
The chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, who has emerged as an outspoken Trump supporter in recent months, wrote the post in response to another X user questioning why people were trying to kill the Republican candidate.
Musk later wrote that the post had been a joke.
“Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X,” Musk wrote.
“Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text,” he said in a follow-up post.
South Africa-born Musk’s post sparked backlash from across the political spectrum, with “DeportElonMusk” trending on X at one point on Monday.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates condemned Musk’s comments as “irresponsible.”
“As President Biden and Vice President Harris said after yesterday’s disturbing news, ‘there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country’ and ‘we all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence’,” Bates in a statement.
“Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about.”
Musk, who is regularly ranked as the world’s richest man, formally endorsed Trump for the 2024 election in July after the Republican candidate narrowly survived an attempted assassination by a gunman in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Earlier this month, Trump announced that he would appoint Musk to lead a “government efficiency commission” if he regains the White House in November.
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