The Human Rights Campaign on Thursday called on Elon Musk to apologize after the Tesla CEO tweeted and then defended a meme mocking the use of gender pronouns.
Musk tweeted a meme that read “when you put he/him in ur bio” accompanied by a soldier with blood on his hands and “I love to oppress” written on his hat and a war scene in the background. Musk later tweeted that he supported trans people but that pronoun demands were “an esthetic nightmare” tagging on a note that Tesla scored a 100 out of 100 from the Human Rights Campaign in its corporate equality index.
“Musk’s insensitive comments stand completely contrary to what HRC’s Workplace Equality Program works with companies each day to create — providing employees a safe, inclusive, and fair work environment,” the Human Rights Campaign told CNBC in a statement.
Added HRC President Alphonso David: “Elon Musk’s tweet mocking pronouns is exactly the opposite of what inclusive leadership looks like today. It’s also decidedly out of step with the best practices we advise companies. Musk should apologize.”
It’s not the first time Musk has made his distaste for gender pronouns known.
In July 2020, Musk’s partner, the recording artist Grimes, tweeted at him to turn off his phone after the Tesla founder tweeted “Pronouns suck,” which people took to be referring to personal identifiers including the nonbinary ‘they’ and ‘them.’
Musk is known for his controversial tweeting. In May, Lilly Wachowski, co-creator of The Matrix franchise, slammed Musk and Ivanka Trump after they tweeted a famous quote from the film, suggesting that following the Republican agenda was the right way to go. In April, Musk trended on social media after a series of Trump-esque tweets like “FREE AMERICA NOW” and “Give people their freedom back!,” calling the COVID lockdown “de facto house arrest.”
