FILE PHOTO: Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide
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| Jul 27, 2026

I’m no racist but immigrants should not harbour hateful views against western countries-Musk 

Al Edwards

Al Edwards / Our Today

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FILE PHOTO: Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as he visits the construction site of Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has to fend off accusations time and time again that he is a racist, and he had to do so again during a sit-down interview with the Editor-In-Chief of esteemed magazine “The Economist”, Zanny Minton Beddoes.

Elon Musk is perhaps the most accomplished and interesting man of our times. He founded SpaceX, Tesla, xAI, and now owns X formerly Twitter.

In recent times, interviews with him have centred around politics, not the application of science for the betterment of the human species. 

Zanny Minton Beddoes has done a good job running the Economist, but during her interview with Musk she did try to tar and feather him as some right-wing racist zealot. 

“You support not just the populist right but the far right, some say fringe parties in some countries,” she jabbed.

Musk shot back: “No, I support the normal people, what you call the far right falsely.”

FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Musk visits the construction site of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin
FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021. Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters

The SpaceX boss stressed in the interview that strong Western economies that immigrants favour should have strong borders, safe cities and sensible spending.

That’s what most people want. 

Elon Musk has 250 million followers on X and what he has to say is of interest to millions of people across the world.

When pressed by The Economist boss, he made it clear that he does not hate Muslims and he has never said so.

“ If you have a large and rapidly growing group of people whose beliefs are antithetical to Western beliefs, at some point there will be a reckoning. They will try to implement their views and those who oppose it- that’s what you call a civil war,”  Musk declared.

There is a huge influx of immigrants with different beliefs, different religions, different moral outlooks coming into Western countries and it does raise questions. How will they all be absorbed, and will they change the fundamental character and culture of their host countries? 

Putting these questions on the table doesn’t make one a racist.

“ People say you are a racist, Beddoes fired at Musk, who countered, “I’m not a racist. At my companies, we have senior executives of all races.”

FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during a conversation with legendary game designer Todd Howard at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during a conversation with legendary game designer Todd Howard (not pictured) at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Blake/File)

She then went further, “Are you anti-Muslim?”

“If people are coming to a country with antithetical views, I am against that. I am against rape and murder. I am against the imposition of rules and laws that are contrary to what we have come to accept in the West.

“I think it’s a crying shame that the traditional media like you don’t recognise this. The fact that a quarter of a billion people follow me is that I think a lot more people actually like me than don’t. And a lot more people hate you and the media than you realise, said Musk.

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