Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter, has accused “the media,” and “elite schools and excessive colleges” of being “racist” towards white and Asian individuals, espousing his views with out offering proof on Sunday.

Musk posted his feedback on Twitter, the place he boasts practically 130 million followers, in response to information that media organizations across the nation determined to chop the cartoon “Dilbert” from syndication after its creator, Scott Adams, delivered a racist tirade in a video on his YouTube channel final week.

Within the video, Adams mentioned a ballot carried out by right-leaning Rasmussen Reviews that stated 26% of Black respondents disagreed with the assertion “It is OK to be white.” The phrase referenced of their ballot has been labeled a “hate slogan” by the Anti-Defamation League. In his video, Adams known as Black individuals who rejected that phrase as a “hate group.”

Adams additionally stated that he personally selected to stay in a group the place few or no Black individuals lived, after which suggested his white viewers to “get the hell away from Black individuals,” saying he did not “need to have something to do with them.”

Adams’ video was revealed throughout Black Historical past month within the US, which was established in 1976 by President Gerald Ford as a interval throughout which to honor the struggles and contributions of Black Individuals.

Among the many information retailers that dropped “Dilbert” had been The Los Angeles Instances, The Oregonian, The Cleveland Plain Seller, the Washington Submit and USA In the present day.

Brian Levin, a civil rights lawyer and director of the Middle for the Examine of Hate and Extremism at California State College stated, in response to Musk’s tweets:

“Systemic racism requires not solely widespread bigotry to be held inside a gaggle but additionally a structural part that enables discrimination and oppression to be imposed on a minority due to a bonus of entry and energy. A white billionaire from South Africa who just lately misplaced a excessive profile racial discrimination case is probably not in the perfect place to supply counsel.”

As CNBC beforehand reported, a San Francisco federal court docket dominated that Tesla should pay a former employee, Owen Diaz, for damages after he endured a hostile work surroundings and racist abuse on the firm’s manufacturing facility the place he beforehand labored as an elevator operator.

Moreover, the EEOC, a federal company accountable for implementing civil rights legal guidelines towards office discrimination, has issued a trigger discovering towards Tesla in response to a monetary submitting from the corporate final yr.

Previous to the EEOC discovering, the California Civil Rights Division (previously generally known as the Division of Honest Employment and Housing) sued Tesla after a 3 yr investigation, alleging widespread racist discrimination at Tesla factories and services throughout the state.

The CRD alleged that Tesla has saved Black employees in lower-level roles on the firm even once they have the abilities and expertise to be promoted to extra senior roles; assigned Black employees extra demanding, harmful and soiled work of their services; and retaliated towards Black employees who complained formally about what they endured, together with racist slurs utilized by managers.

Tesla known as the CRD’s lawsuit “misguided,” and later counter-sued the company.

Musk made his claims about “the media” and a few increased academic establishments and excessive colleges within the US with out presenting any proof.

Particularly, he wrote, “The media is racist.” He then added, “For a *very* very long time, US media was racist towards non-white individuals, now they’re racist towards whites & Asians. Similar factor occurred with elite schools & excessive colleges in America. Possibly they will strive not being racist.” 

In accordance with Pew Analysis, newsroom staff are more likely to be white (and male) than U.S. employees total. In movie and TV, in response to McKinsey analysis, “Black expertise is underrepresented throughout the trade, notably off-screen.” Lower than 6% of the writers, administrators, and producers of US-produced movies are Black, McKinsey discovered.

In accordance with the latest obtainable US Census Bureau information, about 29% of non-Hispanic white individuals within the US have attained a bachelor’s diploma or increased ranges of training, about 18.4% of Black individuals within the US have attained that stage of training, and about 51.3% of Asian individuals have attained that stage of training.

Regardless of Asian American academic attainment, Asians are underrepresented in management roles in U.S. educational libraries and better training, in response to analysis by Mihoko Hosoi, revealed within the Journal of Library Administration in 2022.

Musk additionally replied to at least one Twitter account that stated unarmed white individuals impacted by police violence solely get a fraction of the media consideration paid to Black individuals injured or killed by police. Musk claimed that the media protection is “Very disproportionate to advertise a false narrative.”

In accordance with analysis by Brookings Institute, “Black individuals are 3.5 occasions extra probably than white individuals to be killed by police when Blacks are usually not attacking or don’t have a weapon,” and “Black youngsters are 21 occasions extra probably than white youngsters to be killed by police.”

Imran Ahmed, the CEO and founding father of the Middle for Countering Digital Hate stated in response to Musk’s tweets, “Elon Musk seeks to painting himself as some bizarre, bizarro champion of anti-racism whereas in actuality when he took over Twitter, he made a collection of disturbing selections to vary its guidelines to welcome racist hate again onto the platform and, as our analysis has proven, to revenue from the controversy and a focus hate generates.”

Ahmed additionally known as on remaining advertisers to re-evaluate whether or not they need to spend their budgets on Twitter, given Musk’s beliefs and modifications he has made to the Twitter platform.

Since main a $44 billion leveraged buyout of Twitter late final yr, and appointing himself “Chief Twit” or CEO, Musk has stirred controversy and misplaced cash on the social media enterprise.

Below Musk’s watch, Twitter has restored the accounts of some beforehand banned and divisive figures, together with neo-Nazi web site founder Andrew Anglin. His strikes led to an unprecedented rise in hate speech on the platform, the Middle discovered, and drew a direct outcry from civil rights leaders.

Tons of of Twitter’s prime advertisers have since halted or pulled again on advert spending there. One agency estimated that Twitter’s advert income declined as a lot as 70% in December from the earlier yr, Reuters reported. Musk acknowledged in a November tweet that the firm suffered a “huge drop in income” after advertisers paused spending on the social media platform.

Musk and representatives at Twitter, SpaceX, and Tesla didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.