- Bill Ackman is sticking up for Elon Musk.
- Musk is facing a wave of backlash for retweeting an antisemitic remark on Wednesday.
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman voiced his support for fellow billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday as the X owner faces backlash for retweeting an antisemitic remark.
Ackman, who's waged a personal campaign on social media against people he perceives as antisemites, wrote on X that Musk "is not an antisemite."
"It is remarkable how quickly the world stands ready to attack Musk for his shoot from the hip commentary," Ackman wrote.
He then praised the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. "Musk is not perfect, but the world is a vastly better place because of him," Ackman added.
On Wednesday, Musk retweeted a post on X that said "Jewish communities" are pushing "hatred against whites." The post also accused Jewish people of supporting "hordes of minorities" entering Western countries.
"You have said the actual truth," Musk wrote in his retweet, sparking a swift wave of online backlash. The tweet appears to draw from the "Great Replacement" theory, a white supremacist idea that purports White people are being replaced by minorities and immigrants.
Critics ranging from The White House to a cofounder of Facebook to Tesla investors slammed Musk, and several large advertisers have dropped deals with X since his controversial post.
Despite the backlash, Musk continued to comment on his retweet, criticizing the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish non-governmental organization that combats antisemitism, saying it "unjustly attacks the majority of the West."
When another X user told him not to "generalize the Jewish community," Musk wrote: "You right that this does not extend to all Jewish communities, but it is also not just limited to ADL."
In his defense of Musk, Ackman reposted a video from conservative political pundit Ben Shapiro, who said Musk was unjustly being labeled as "some sort of crypto-Nazi."
"Very often, antisemitism becomes a political football," said Shapiro, who said many critics of Musk have failed to denounce antisemitism among anti-Israel protestors.
Ackman wrote that he agreed with Shapiro's analysis. Ackman has in recent weeks been ferociously outspoken against pro-Palestine supporters whom he believes have crossed the line into antisemitism.
The hedge fund manager has also blasted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at Harvard University, his alma mater, accusing them of failing to represent Asians, Jewish people, and conservative students.
Notably, Shapiro also condemned DEI programs in his video. "Nobody hates the DEI more than I do. There are certain Jewish groups that are liberal in orientation who support that sort of stuff," Shapiro said.
All of this is happening against the backdrop of a brutal war between Israel and Hamas in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, which Israel said killed 1,200 people.
Health authorities in Gaza say more than 13,000 people — most of whom are women and children — have died from Israel's military response, which include airstrikes and a total siege of the area.
The death toll and continual accusations of war crimes and human rights violations from both sides have ignited tensions around the world, and Islamophobia, antisemitism, and extremist rhetoric are surging to the fore of public discourse.