Elon Musk Deletes Falsehood-Ridden Pizzagate Meme After His Own App Calls Him Out
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk has deleted a meme promoting the pizzagate conspiracy theory after being corrected on his own social media platform.
The pizzagate controversy came to a head in December 2016, when after months of baseless far-right internet speculation over a Washington, D.C. pizzeria supposedly being at the center of a child sex-trafficking ring, a man arrived at the restaurant with a rifle and fired three shots.
On Tuesday, Musk shared a meme suggesting that the “expert” who had debunked the conspiracy theory, ex-ABC News reporter James Gordon Meek, had gone “to jail for child porn.”
James Meek (the “expert” Musk is referring to) did not cover PizzaGate and had nothing to do with its debunking. Utterly irresponsible for Musk to revive a completely invented and ludicrous conspiracy theory. But he is who he is. pic.twitter.com/zi99mTlVl2
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) November 28, 2023
Meek did plead guilty to federal charges for the transportation and possession of child sexual abuse material earlier this year, but Meek played no role in debunking the far-fetched theory, only mentioning the imbroglio briefly in a 2017 article, per a Reuters fact check. A New York Post headline supposedly asserting that Meek had been central to disproving the conspiracy gained traction online, but it was fabricated.
On X, Musk was mocked for his embrace of the long-dead conspiracy theory.
“Someone should tell Musk that that weird imprisoned gunman actually went and checked out pizzagate and found nothing so it’s like the one conspiracy theory we know for a fact is false,” mused Ben Dreyfuss.
Someone should tell Musk that that weird imprisoned gunman actually went and checked out pizzagate and found nothing so it’s like the one conspiracy theory we know for a fact is false
— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) November 28, 2023
Rolling Stone, meanwhile, declared that he had taken his “flirtation with Pizzagate to the next level.”
Elon Musk Takes Flirtation With Pizzagate to the Next Level
Nearly a decade after the crazed theory was put to bed, Elon Musk is shoving it back into the public consciousness.
Story: https://t.co/fQD6KPATAI pic.twitter.com/PYT4qmLlkX
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) November 28, 2023
Several community notes — the fact-checking system championed by Musk — were under consideration for being affixed to his post when Musk deleted it.
Musk balance un post totalement mensonger qui relance le complot du Pizzagate.
Il y a plein de Community Notes qui expliquent à quel point le poste de Musk est ridicule/infondé.
AUCUNE Community Note n’est affichée publiquement sous le post de Musk.
Etonnant non ?
(non) pic.twitter.com/EFfN5MZoot— Nain Portekoi (@Nain_Portekoi) November 28, 2023
Did Musk remove the community notes debunking his own #Pizzagate post? pic.twitter.com/Qz7hsYYusv
— The Liberal Agenda (@LiberalAgendaX) November 28, 2023
Musk first dipped his toes into the pizzagate waters last week, when he replied “weird” to a post outlining arguments in support of it.
