Elon Musk disparagingly compared George Soros to the X-Men supervillain Magneto after the Democratic billionaire revealed that he dumped a huge amount of Tesla stock.
Musk went on to claim that Soros “hates humanity”.
The 92-year-old Hungarian-born billionaire heads the Open Society Foundations and has often drawn the ire of conservatives for his support of progressive causes.
“Soros reminds me of Magneto,” Musk tweeted.
The post had generated nearly 165,000 likes and nearly 25 million views at the time of publishing this article.
Musk did not initially explain what led him to lash out at Soros.
But the disdainful tweet was posted shortly after a filing revealed that the Soros family office dumped its entire stake in Tesla in the first quarter of this year.
The value of the stake wasn’t immediately clear, but Tesla’s shares are up nearly 54% since the start of the year.
Soros has also vacated his position on another electric vehicle maker, Rivian.
Musk’s tweet was rebuked by progressive political activist Brian Krassenstein, who noted that both Soros and the fictional Magneto are Holocaust survivors.
“Fun fact: Magneto’s experiences during the Holocaust as a survivor shaped his perspective as well as his depth and empathy,” Krassenstein tweeted. “Soro [sic]also a survivor of the Holocaust [sic] attacked non-stop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad just because they disagree [sic] political affiliations.”
“You assume they are good intentions. They are not,” Musk replied. “He wants to erode the fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”
Musk’s comments drew sharp criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, who accused the Tesla boss of spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Soros.
“Soros is often held up by the far right, using anti-Semitic tropes, as the source of the world’s problems,” Greenblatt tweeted. “To see @ElonMusk, regardless of his intentions, fuel this segment – comparing him to a Jewish supervillain, claiming that Soros ‘hates humanity’ – is not only disturbing, it’s dangerous.”
“It will embolden extremists who have already been concocting anti-Jewish conspiracies and as a result have tried to attack Soros and Jewish communities,” Greenblatt added.
In the Marvel comic books, Magneto is the main character who can generate and control magnetic fields.
He is often at odds with the X-Men due to his belief “that mutants should rule over humans,” though he was an occasional ally of the superhero group, according to a biography on Marvel’s website.
Soros has a net worth of $8.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
His family office, Soros Fund Management, has approximately $28 billion in assets under management.
