By Aaron Miller-
Elon Musk on Sunday openly attacked America’s outgoing top infectious disease official and key advisor of the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Anthony Fauci, in a viral tweet.
He said: “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” the billionaire Twitter CEO said, alluding to the practice of indicating gender pronouns after one’s name as well as the right-wing campaign to charge Fauci with crimes related to his involvement in US Covid policies.
Musk also posted a meme depicting Fauci telling US President Joe Biden, “Just one more lockdown, my king…” — in a jibe directed at mocking of the Covid lockdowns in America when the virus was at its highest in 2020.
The billionaire owner of twitter was a frequent critic of lockdowns at the height of the pandemic, often playing down the seriousness of the covid virus and criticising the stated necessity of the controversial virus.
Early in the pandemic, Musk tweeted that concern over the virus was “dumb” and since taking over Twitter has removed its policy targeting Covid misinformation.
Musk’s tweet quickly went viral, receiving over 800,000 likes within some 11 hours but also sparking swift criticism.
Vaccine scientist and author Peter Hotez called on Musk to delete the tweet, saying, “200,000 Americans needlessly lost their lives from Covid due to this kind of antiscience rhetoric and disinformation.”
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar praised how Fauci “calmly guided our country through crisis” and addressed Musk, saying: “Could you just leave a good man alone in your seemingly endless quest for attention?”
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had been removed from Twitter over Covid misinformation but whose account was reinstated under Musk’s leadership, tweeted: “I affirm your pronouns Elon.”
Republican lawmakers have vowed to question Fauci when they take control of the House of Representatives in January, following clashes with the top immunologist over Covid vaccines, mask mandates and other pandemic-related issues.
Fauci, 81, is due to step down this month from his roles in government as Biden’s chief medical advisor, as well as director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, which he has headed since 1984.
Musk has courted controversy ever since his $44bn take over of twitter, sacking all the social media platform’s top executives, and restoring access to numerous individuals banned for highly objectionable content, including those capable of inciting hatred.
He is set to commercialise the platform by making users who wish to pay for a blue tick enabling them to make moderations on their platform.