Vanity Fair Under Fire For ‘Deranged’ Headline Comparing Elon Musk to Infamous Racist David Duke

Vanity Fair is being skewered for a story comparing Twitter owner Elon Musk to infamous Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

“Report: Ron DeSantis Will Formally Announce His 2024 Bid With Elon Musk Because Apparently David Duke Wasn’t Available,” read the over-the-top headline of the piece, which sparked criticism on Twitter and on cable news.

The article, by Vanity Fair correspondent Bess Levin, tackled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his expected announcement of a run for president during a Twitter Spaces interview with Elon Musk — because “apparently other neo-Nazi sympathizers weren’t available,” Levin wrote.

Levin wrote that Musk, “has turned Twitter into a safe haven for hate speech” and “made remarks about George Soros that the Anti-Defamation League said would ‘embolden extremists.’” Musk has claimed he is a “free speech warrior,” but many have pointed out the gaping holes in that self-assessment.

Journalist Katherine Brodsky, who posted that she “once dreamt of writing” for Vanity Fair, tweeted that she’s “appalled.” In a lengthy and scathing criticism of the piece, Brodsky called out the comparison of Musk to a white supremacist.

Other journalists and politicos weighed in with indictments of the piece.

https://twitter.com/TheLibertyRpt/status/1661272074063601666

Entrepreneur David Sacks, an active Twitter user who is hosting the event with DeSantis and Musk, responded to the piece by stating, “The media has lost its mind.”

Elon Musk responded to Sacks: “Looks like the Babylon Bee has some competition for satire.”

Fox News host Harris Faulkner addressed the controversy on The Faulkner Focus Wednesday, remarking, “Interesting how quickly mainstream media will jump — pounce on conservatives.”

Political commentator Jason Chaffetz agreed and denounced the article as “disgusting.”

“It’s just so patently wrong, it is false, it is disgusting and why people hate politics and why a lot of good people don’t run for politics,” Chaffetz said.

Right Wing News founder John Hawkins said the author doesn’t “deserve to be writing for any sort of credible publication.”

“If someone really sees David Duke and Elon Musk as comparable in some way, they’re either crazy or incredibly ignorant. Either way, they certainly don’t deserve to be writing for any sort of credible publication……or even somewhere like Vanity Fair.”

Watch The Faulkner Focus clip above.