Elon Musk has issued a statement after being accused of giving a “Nazi salute” during yesterday’s inauguration for Donald Trump.

Trump was officially sworn in on Monday, January 20, and will now begin his second term as President of the United States. Naturally, there was plenty to talk about following yesterday’s swearing in, with Trump making typically lofty promises as for the next four years.

Yet though some people chose to focus on First Lady Melania Trump’s choice of hat, while others zoned in on just how much Vice President J.D. Vance’s daughter resembles her father, it was arguably Elon Musk who caused the most stir online.

The Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder, who used his social media platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) to champion Trump’s cause in the run up to the election, was at the Capital One Arena in Washington ahead of yesterday’s Inauguration Day parade.

Delivering a rousing speech during which he spoke about sending the first human to Mars and planting an American flag on the “Red Planet”, Musk then courted controversy with a gesture that saw him thump his chest and fire his right arm out towards the sky.

“Thank you for making it happen. Thank you, my heart goes out to you,” Musk then said, before turning back to the audience and repeating the gesture towards the US flag.

The historical parallels that can be drawn with such a salute are obvious, and it wasn’t long before the internet erupted with reactions. CNN anchor Kasie Hunt described the move as ‘not something you typically see at American rallies’, and said it was ‘evocative of things that we have seen through history’.

On Elon Musk’s own platform, X, people were a little bit more brazen with their opinions, accusing the 53-year-old of having performed a “Sieg Heil” as “clear as day”.

Anti-Defamation League, the antisemitism watchdog, moved to defend Musk, writing on X: “It seems that [Musk] make an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people on on edge.

“This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety.

“In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was quick to clap back at the Anti-Defamation League, writing: “Just to be clear, you are defending a Heil Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity.

“People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now. You work for them. Thank you for making that crystal clear to all.”

Musk himself then accused Cortez of having: ‘just 100 percent lost her marbles’.

Another X user wrote: “Can we please retire the calling people a Nazi thing? It didn’t work during the election, it’s not working now, it’s tired, boring, and old material, you’ve burned out its effect, people don’t feel shocked by it anymore, the wolf has been cried too many times.”

Under that comment, Musk replied: “yeah exactly’ and a yawn emoji before adding in a follow-up “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”