- In May,
Elon Musk tweeted "Take the red pill" and presidential advisorIvanka Trump quote retweeted him, saying "Taken!" - Musk's tweet caused a firestorm of speculation and criticism, including from his partner Grimes' mother.
- The "red pill" symbol originally comes from the movie "
The Matrix " where it represented a choice that would allow the protagonist Neo to see a reality he wasn't previously aware of. - Online, it was first co-opted by incels and men's rights activists for their cause. Now, it's used by conservatives at large to describe when people have ideological shifts towards conservativism.
- In an interview with The New York Times, Elon Musk said that he thinks Ivanka Trump interpreted his "take the red pill" tweet from May "through a more political lens than it was intended."
Tech mogul Elon Musk attempted to clarify a controversial tweet from May in a New York Times interview published Saturday.
On May 17, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeted "Take the red pill." The phrase originates from "The Matrix," in which Keanu Reeves' character takes a red pill that allows him to see the true nature of the world. However, the phrase has acquired a more complicated meaning these days. Online, incels and men's rights activists first appropriated the idea for their cause, and now, the phrase is widely used among conservatives to describe when people have ideological shifts towards conservativism.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2020
The tweet was amplified when Ivanka Trump, an advisor to the president, quote retweeted Musk with the caption, "Taken!" In turn, "Matrix" director and co-creator Lilly Wachowski responded to Ivanka, saying, "F-ck both of you." The mother of Musk's partner Grimes criticized Musk for "blaring MRA bullsh--."
—Lilly Wachowski (@lilly_wachowski) May 17, 2020
In an interview with The New York Times published on Saturday, Musk told interviewer Maureen Dowd that he thought that Ivanka may have taken the tweet the wrong way, claiming that he didn't intend for it to have a political message.
"No, it's just: Accept reality as it is as opposed to what you wish it were," he told The New York Times. "I think [Ivanka Trump] was interpreting it through more of a political lens then it was intended."
Musk has spoken before about the possibility that, à la "Matrix," we're all living in a simulation, but has espoused right-wing talking points on Twitter in the past, particularly in relation to the coronavirus pandemic: he called stay-at-home orders "fascist" in April and tweeted dismissively about COVID-19 statistics in May.
- Read more:
- Elon Musk tweets 'take the red pill' in another strange turn for the billionaire
- A cocreator of 'The Matrix' told Elon Musk and Ivanka Trump 'F--- both of you' for using the 'red pill' phrase that's become a far-right meme
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