Elon Musk has accused the media of being racist against white and Asian people, sparking a heated debate over free speech and race. The billionaire’s claim comes amid backlash against “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams over comments he made about Black people.
Musk made the comments on Sunday in response to a Twitter user who accused the media of portraying Adams as a racist but not levelling similar accusations against Black Americans who said in a recent survey they did not agree with a statement asking if it is “OK to be white”.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO argued that US media had long been racist against non-white people, and now they are racist against whites and Asians. He suggested that instead of racism, society should try to be colour-blind around race.
Musk later tweeted his agreement with another user who said Adams’s comments “weren’t good” but US society had leaned into identity with “predictable results” and should return to colour-blindness around race.
The billionaire’s views on free speech, race and other contentious issues have been in the spotlight since he bought Twitter in October for $44bn. Under his leadership, Twitter has relaxed moderation rules regarding hate speech and reinstated the accounts of far-right and other controversial figures, including neo-Nazis.
Musk, who has described himself as a free-speech absolutist, has pledged to encourage viewpoint diversity on Twitter and address the liberal bias he claims held sway under the platform’s previous management.
The controversy began when Adams made remarks on his YouTube show last week, saying that white Americans should “get the hell away from Black people” and it “makes no sense whatsoever as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens anymore”. He also said he had moved to a primarily white neighbourhood to “escape”.
Adams’ comments were in response to a Rasmussen poll carried out early this month that found 26 percent of Black Americans did not agree with the statement “It’s OK to be white,” while 21 percent were “not sure”. Overall, 72 percent of respondents, including 53 percent of Black people, agreed it is “OK to be white”, with just 12 percent of the general population disagreeing with the statement.
In response to Adams’ comments, a number of newspapers in the United States have dropped the “Dilbert” comic strip. The Washington Post, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and other US newspapers have all removed the strip in recent days.
Elon Musk’s comments about racism in the media have sparked a heated debate over free speech and race. The billionaire’s views on these issues have been in the spotlight since he bought Twitter in October for $44bn. While Musk has described himself as a free-speech absolutist, he has also pledged to encourage viewpoint diversity on Twitter and address the liberal bias he claims held sway under the platform’s previous management.