- Elon Musk said in an interview with CNBC that he is "pro-Semite, if anything."
- His comments came after he compared George Soros to the "X-Men" villain Magneto on Monday.
Elon Musk tried to defend his statements on the Jewish billionaire George Soros a day after likening Soros to a comic-book villain.
"I'm like a pro-Semite, if anything," Musk said during an interview with CNBC's David Faber on Tuesday. On Monday, Musk tweeted that Soros reminds him of the "X-Men" villain, Magneto, while claiming that Soros "hates humanity."
"I said he reminds me of Magneto. This is like, you know, calm down people. Let's not like make a metaphorical case out of it," Musk said.
Musk then doubled down on his criticism of Soros, saying he thinks it's true that Soros does hate mankind, but offered no further substantiation for the claim.
Faber then questioned Musk on why he would tweet about potentially sensitive issues, knowing it could hurt his businesses.
"Why share it when people who buy Teslas may not agree with you? Advertisers on Twitter may not agree with you," Faber asked the Twitter and Tesla CEO in the interview.
Musk responded by saying that he was exercising his freedom of speech and that he could say whatever he wanted.
Musk then said that he did not want the interview to become a "George Soros interview" before adding: "I'll say what I want, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it."
—nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) May 16, 2023
Musk's tweet on Monday saying "Soros reminds me of Magneto," has been viewed 39 million times as of press time.
Musk also sparred with investigative journalist Brian Krassenstein over the "Magneto" tweet. Krassenstein told Musk that, in his opinion, Soros gets "attacked nonstop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with this political affiliations."
Musk replied to his Krassenstein's tweet, saying: "You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity."
Musk's ire — and his tweets attacking Soros — came hours after it was revealed that Soros' fund dumped its entire stake in Tesla's stocks in the first quarter of 2023, per a 13F filing published on Friday.
Musk did not elaborate in detail — in his tweets or to CNBC — on why he thought Magneto and Soros were similar. Magneto is one of the mutants in the "X-Men," a long-running series of comics from Marvel. He's a Holocaust survivor who has the superhuman ability to control magnetic fields.
Throughout his comic book arc, Magneto pivots from being a villain who staunchly believes that mutants should control humanity to an anti-hero who, at times, allies with the X-Men.
Meanwhile, Soros, 92, is a Holocaust survivor. He's also been falsely accused of being a Nazi. Reuters in 2020 debunked the claim — Soros' family were actually Hungarian Jews living in Budapest during World War II.
Soros has also been the focus of numerous right-wing conspiracy theories, with people believing that he conspired to fill Budapest with refugees, tried to start a civil war in the US, and used his wealth to influence politics.
Musk did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.