Arizona Republican calls Elon Musk America’s ‘richest African American’

Blake Masters, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona, sparked debate on Twitter for his description of the white tech mogul.

Republican Blake Masters, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona, has sparked debate on Twitter after referring to tech mogul Elon Musk, who is white, as the “richest African American entrepreneur” in the nation.

On Tuesday, appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Masters took aim at Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and her husband, Paul Pelosi, who have reportedly been criticized for trading stocks, as reported by Mediaite.

“They’re corrupt,” claimed Masters, speaking about the Pelosi pair and Democrats overall. “And they’re hypocritical, so much so that there are terms for this, right? Champagne socialist, limousine liberal. Look at Elizabeth Warren, who’s in the news this week for attacking our country’s richest African American entrepreneur, a successful businessman who’s on track to pay $12 billion in taxes this year. I’m talking about Elon Musk, of course.”

Carlson couldn’t hold back from laughing hysterically at the statement.

One Twitter user commented, “The persistence of systematic colonial racism pleases Tucker greatly.”

Somebody added, “You called Musk an African American. Huh? He was born in South Africa, that does not make him an African American,” which garnered the reply, “Born in Africa and moved to America. That makes him an African American. That’s how it works.”

“Perfection. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been excited to vote for an AZ senate candidate until now,” another tweeter asserted.

One commenter shared: “I’m so sick of folks conflating or confusing nationality and heritage. Elon national is South African. He is not black/African American.”

“So if we use the logic the more money you make, the more taxes you pay, the more you have done for America I’m assuming he’s ready to present the good citizenship award to the Sackler family,” said another post.

Musk grew up in apartheid South Africa before moving to Canada as a teenager. As the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, Inc., the entrepreneur is the wealthiest person in the world, with a reported estimated net worth of around $255 billion.

“Elon has done more this week for America than Elizabeth Warren will do her a lifetime,” Masters continued. “And she has the nerve to criticize him?”

His comments come after Warren called out Tesla over the massive amounts of government subsidies the company receives.

She accused the Austin-based company of “freeloading” off taxpayers, which prompted Musk to call her “Senator Karen.”

Warren later responded in an appearance on MSNBC, saying “the world’s richest freeloader evidently has a very thin skin.”

Meanwhile, Musk’s automotive company was ordered in October to pay $137 million to a former Black employee after a jury ruled he was subjected to racial harassment and a hostile work environment at Tesla, theGrio reported.

Owen Diaz said he was subjected to “daily racist epithets” and alleged that employees drew swastikas and left racist graffiti and drawings around the facility. He said his supervisors did nothing to stop the racial abuse.

In the lawsuit, Diaz’s attorneys wrote, “Tesla’s progressive image was a facade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees.”

According to an NBC News report, Tesla was previously ordered to pay more than $1 million to another employee who was called a racial slur. Supervisors ignored his complaints as well.

This article contains additional reporting from theGrio’s Biba Adams.

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