Scholz commented on Musk’s gesture as similar to a Nazi salute

Chancellor Olaf Scholz on January 21 criticized Elon Musk for supporting “extreme right-wing positions” after the American businessman supported Germany’s far-right AfD party. In this way, he answered journalists’ questions about the gesture that Musk made on January 20 at the event on the occasion of the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

“We have freedom of speech in Europe and Germany. Everyone can say what they want, even if they are a billionaire. We don’t agree if this is support for far-right positions,” Scholz said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk faced criticism after a speech at Donald Trump’s presidential parade in which he put his hand over his heart and raised it in a Nazi salute-like gesture, then did it again. The video of the speech was published by several American channels.

“My heart is with you,” he said afterward.

Trump supporters say it’s a “Roman salute” and not a gesture by supporters of Adolf Hitler, and the footage of the salute has been taken out of context.

Earlier this month, Musk endorsed Alisa Weidel, the AfD’s candidate for German chancellor, and also made offensive comments about Scholz.

Scholz, for his part, previously accused Musk of endangering the “democratic development of Europe” with his support for the far-right.