Tim Walz appeared to call Elon Musk a “gay guy” during the election campaign, prompting a swift response from the Tesla boss.
The Minnesota governor made the comment while speaking out against tax cuts for the wealthy in Michigan, before portraying the billionaire as someone who has benefited from them.
“If you’re a billionaire, Elon Musk, for example,” says the vice presidential hopeful in viral fragments of the speech, before committing the apparent gaffe.
‘That guy, that gay guy has-‘
He continues to interrupt himself, before laughing at what Harris’ team now says was a slip.
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Tim Walz appeared to call Elon Musk a “gay guy” on the campaign trail Friday while speaking out against tax cuts for the wealthy in Michigan.
He painted the billionaire as a party that has benefited from them, before making the apparent mistake.
“Michigan knows that word,” Kamala Harris, 60, continued after the fact.
The crowd laughs too, as Walz continues his thought.
“That guy got a tax cut,” he says, as the clip continues to lose traction on social media.
Among those who noticed was Musk, who took to his own X platform to issue a response.
In it, the Donald Trump supporter wrote, “I have no problem being called gay,” while using a well-known acronym to express his candor.
The response came within minutes and saw the CEO of X seemingly ignore any brewing controversy, while the creator of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency also weighed in.
The man behind one of Musk’s favorite digital tokens, Shibetoshi Nakamoto, shared a tongue-in-cheek post in which Musk had joked about how he had been willing to “sleep with him,” prompting another response from the SpaceX boss.
“Guess Tim Walz read this post,” Nakamoto wrote, capping off the joke with a laughing emoji.
“If you’re a billionaire, Elon Musk, for example,” says the vice presidential hopeful in now-viral excerpts of the speech, before committing the apparent gaffe. “That guy, that gay guy had-” He continues to interrupt himself, before laughing at what Harris’ team now says was a slip.
The comment got a quick response from Musk, who seemed to ignore the whole thing.
Musk, who recently expressed support for Republican candidate Trump, responded by re-sharing Nakamoto’s tweet, as others reacted to the images circulating.
Hashtags like ‘gays4trump’ were the result, while speculation began to arise as to whether Walz actually intended to make such comments.
Seeking to clear up any speculation, the Harris-Walz campaign issued a statement saying that Walz simply “stuttered” during his rant, and that what he really meant to say was “that guy got it,” a spokesperson told the New York Times. Mail.
He claimed the candidate stumbled upon a slur from the crowd, telling the newspaper: “In the video, someone in the crowd can be heard yelling ‘dips**t!’ when the governor mentions Musk.
“The governor started laughing and stuttered while trying to say ‘that guy has it’; he did not refer to Elon as a gay guy,” the representative continued.
His subsequent comment to the Detroit audience, he explained, had referred to the slur, the spokesperson added, referencing Walz’s claim that attendees “knew that word.”
The creator of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, one of Musk’s favorite digital tokens, also weighed in on the widely seen images, prompting another response from the SpaceX boss.
He recently expressed his support for Republican Trump, drawing criticism from the vice presidential candidate.
The Harris-Walz campaign cleared up any speculation surrounding the comments, saying that Walz simply “stuttered” during his rant. Meanwhile, Musk has been the victim of Walz’s criticism in the past, with the Democratic vice presidential candidate mocking the mogul late last month.
He used the same word his team said came out of the crowd on Friday to categorize the South African’s dance moves, saying he moved like an ‘asshole’ while dancing on stage at a Trump rally on October 5.
Musk, meanwhile, has been the victim of Walz’s criticism in the past, with the Democratic vice presidential candidate recently mocking the mogul using the same word his team now says came from the crowd.
Speaking from the college town of Madison in Wisconsin On October 22, the Minnesota politician accused Musk of dancing like a ‘dips***’, during a raucous rally with Trump days before.
He recalled how Musk, who endorsed former President Donald Trump immediately after the July 13 assassination attempt, joined the Republican candidate at his second meeting in Butler, Pennsylvania, after nearly being assassinated there last summer.
“Elon was on that stage jumping, jumping like an idiot,” Walz said at the time, accompanied by former President Barack Obama.
“That guy is literally the richest man in the world and he’s spending millions of dollars to help Donald Trump buy an election.”
Meanwhile, the elections are only a few days away. Several states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania, remain in play.
