Elon Musk is discovering that owning a platform and posting harmful jokes doesn’t exempt him from facing serious repercussions.
The U.S. Secret Service has initiated an investigation into a now-deleted social media post made by Musk, which questioned the absence of assassination attempts targeting President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a report from Bloomberg News on Thursday.
As noted in previous reports, Musk’s post, shared on Sunday, provocatively remarked on why former President Trump had recently experienced two apparent assassination attempts, while Biden and the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris, had not. Initially, Musk resisted pressure to delete or modify the post but ultimately chose to remove it on Monday, explaining that it was meant as a joke.
RELATED:Elon Musk Deletes Controversial Post About Biden and Harris Following Backlash
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Melissa McKenzie, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, commented on the matter, stating, “The Secret Service is aware of the social media post made by Elon Musk, and as a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence.”
The White House has also weighed in on the situation, denouncing Musk’s comments as irresponsible. In a statement, they echoed sentiments expressed by President Biden and Vice President Harris following recent concerning events: “There is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and we all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.” The statement went on to emphasize that “violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible.”
Musk, who endorsed Donald Trump back in July and was reportedly promised a position in Trump’s cabinet should he regain the presidency in November, is finding that there are limits to the liberties one can take on social media, especially regarding topics as sensitive as violence and political safety.
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