Elon Musk says he's learned a lesson
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- The FBI is probing what it says appears to be a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
- Elon Musk then posted on X, asking why there have been no assassination attempts on Biden or Harris.
- Musk later deleted the post, saying people had misinterpreted what he thought was a joke.
Elon Musk is facing backlash following a controversial comment he made on his social media platform, X, in the wake of an apparent second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
In a now-deleted post, Musk questioned why there have been no assassination attempts on President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris. Musk later said he'd learned a lesson from the post after an X user told him it was being misinterpreted.
The remarks came after gunshots were fired near Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. The FBI is now probing what it says appears to be a second attempted assassination of Trump.
Just two months earlier, Trump survived an attempt on his life when a shooter opened fire during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Musk's post was met with backlash on X.
"If someone takes a shot on Biden or Harris or Walz after two registered Republicans took shots on Trump and Musk posted this insane tweet, we must consider Musk's role in any such violence," AI expert Gary Marcus said in response to Musk's deleted post. "Elon is not ok."
Other users condemned the post as "appalling and indefensible," "irresponsible," and "dangerous."
Musk is no stranger to sharing controversial remarks on X, and some of his posts have been cited as one of the reasons why advertisers have been slow to return to X.
For example, earlier this month, the billionaire deleted an X post that promoted a Tucker Carlson interview with a man accused of being a "Nazi apologist."
This time, Musk appears to have acknowledged he may have gone too far.
Despite initially brushing off to delete the comment, Musk later replied to an X user who suggested he remove and reword the post as it was being misinterpreted.
"Fair enough. I don't want to do what they have done, even in jest," Musk wrote in response.
Musk later reflected on the episode, saying it had taught him a lesson.
"Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don't know the context and the delivery is plain text," Musk wrote in a subsequent post.
Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on ????
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 16, 2024
Representatives for Musk, Biden, and Harris didn't immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.
Musk has endorsed Trump in the 2024 election and has been publicly critical of both Harris and Biden. Trump has also floated the idea of having the billionaire in his government, calling him a "smart" and "brilliant guy."
Musk has previously expressed interest in serving on a possible government efficiency commission should Trump win the election.