Elon Musk spent his Christmas tweeting alt-right dog whistles because of course
(Getty)
Twitter CEO and 51-year-old so-called adult Elon Musk spent his Christmas using alt-right dog whistles on social media.
The former richest man in the world tweeted the phrase “kek” in a Sunday (25 December) response to a post hoping for a “chill” new year.
The phrase “kek” is often used as an exclamation by alt-right groups, usually as a synonym for “laughing out loud” (lol).
It derives from the online game World of Warcraft and was originally used by members of the Alliance faction as a way to differentiate their expression of victory from other factions.
Eventually, the phrase morphed into a phrase often used to exclaim celebration for something that the alt-right deems a success, such as the appointment of Donald Trump as US president in 2016.
Kek is often also used alongside the cartoon character Pepe, who has become a notable symbol for alt-right groups.
But as many people point out in response to Musk’s tweet, the phrase stopped being popular years ago.
“Quantum [leapt] from f**kin 2017 or something,” one user said.
Another wrote: “You can tell Elon is in his fifties by the way he uses out [of date] seven-year-old slang.”
The post is also littered with members of alt-right groups from the forum 4Chan, calling themselves “anons” – an abbreviated version of the phrase “anonymous member” used to describe 4Chan users – as a nod to others of their political leanings.
This isn’t the first time Elon Musk has used phrases or dog whistles to capture the attention of alt-right groups.
In 2020, he tweeted “pronouns suck” in reference to the trans community, specifically non-binary people.
Whether Musk expected to receive the response he did or not, he nonetheless received thousands of responses either agreeing or using similar speech to echo his words.
Commenters said that being trans was “delusional,” while making blatant death threats against the community.
Additionally, the anti-trans social media profile LibsOfTikTok has routinely exchanged words with Musk.
After firing an employee in November for publicly calling out the CEO for his actions following the acquisition of the site, the social media profile made a post mocking the employee.
Musk then replied, saying: “A tragic case of adult-onset Tourette’s.”
