Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X, said in an interview with Ben Shapiro at a conference hosted by the European Jewish Association on Monday that he was "Jewish by association" because he had so many Jewish friends and that he was "naive" about antisemitism, Business Insider reported.
These statements come in light of accusations against him of spreading conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic remarks on his social networking platform, X.
The European Jewish Association organised Musk’s trip to Auschwitz, a former Nazi death camp in Poland, and later held a conference in which Musk engaged in a conversation with Far Right commentator Ben Shapiro.
During the conversation, the Tesla CEO was asked about a "radical upsurge in antisemitic activity."
In reply, Musk stated that he was "naive" about it because "two-thirds" of his friends are Jewish.
He said, "I have twice as many Jewish friends as non-Jewish friends. "I'm like Jewish by association. I'm aspirationally Jewish. So I was like, 'What are people talking about with this antisemitism?' I never hear it in dinner conversations. It's like absurdity at least in my friend circles."
The visit to Auschwitz over the weekend follows his visit toIsrael in November.