Elon Musk, noted fan of free speech when it suits him, has doubled down on his support for Scott Adams, as the Dilbert creator continues to find strife for his outlandish and often outrageous takes.
Adams has had a long history of espousing fringe far-right beliefs to the masses, including a fairly hilarious claim from 2016 that if Hilary Clinton won the election, there’d never be another male president. His public takes have shifted from stupid to just awful recently, with his feelings hurt by a poll leading him to declaring Black people a “hate group” and white people should “get the hell away from Black people; just get the f**k away.”
Very normal comments from a man who clearly isn’t a fringe conspiracy theorist and well-known Donald Trump apologist. Of course, it only makes sense Musk would go in to bat for Adams because he seems to have an affinity with far right grifters. Musk espouses the broken logic the world is now racist against white people, a dog whistle beloved by conspiracy theorists.
Musk only doubled down on this again, noting how insightful the Dilbert comics are, and that we need to “stop canceling comedy.” The problem is, Adam’s’ comments weren’t made in a comic or a stand-up routine, but during a YouTube livestream with no pretense of comedy — unless you find his absurd takes as outrageously funny as some do.
Adams responded to Musk’s defense of him, giving him a hearty thank you on Twitter. The consistent trend of Musk associating with people who have been called out for racism is a troubling one for the future of the app he now owns. Since he took over, he’s consistently made fun of social activists and attempted to alienate trans people. You can see why he’d be mates with Adams.
Nobody outside of Musk knows how his brain runs, but it seems to be fueled by engaging with and courting far-right conspiracy theorists in a desperate attempt to look cool. Unfortunately for him, Donald Trump still doesn’t want to be his friend desperate desperate kowtowing.