Elon Musk calls George Soros Magneto

Musk offered no context for the comparison he made on Monday between 92-year-old billionaire George Soros and the X-Men mutant Magneto, simply stating in a three-tweet thread: “Soros reminds me of Magneto.

“I’d like to apologise for this post.

“It was really unfair to Magneto.”

Musk then proceeded to engage in a spat with investigative journalist Brian Krassenstein, after Krassenstein defended the ageing billionaire.

“Fun fact: Magneto’s experiences during the Holocaust as a survivor shaped his perspective as well as his depth and empathy. Soro (sic), also a Holocaust survivor, gets attacked nonstop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with this political affiliations,” Krassenstein wrote.

“You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity,” Musk countered.

Magneto is a mutant character in the Marvel Comics who possesses the superhuman ability to generate and control magnetic fields. Magneto was a Holocaust survivor who, after initially believing humans and mutants could not coexist, went on to become an antihero allied with the X-Men.

Soros, who is worth $A10.8 billion, is frequently cited in conspiracy theories and has been accused of being a former Nazi.

Soros was a Hungarian Jew living in Budapest during WWII and has denied accusations that he colluded with Nazis. He has said he witnessed Nazis confiscating Jewish property during this period.

Musk’s tweet came hours after it was revealed that Soros’s hedge fund had dumped its stake in Tesla stocks.

According to the latest financial statements from Soros Fund Management, the fund held around 132,000 shares of Tesla at the end of the year, but sold it all in the first quarter as the stock rose 68 per cent from January to March.

The billionaire is a highly controversial figure in global politics. His foundation, the Open Societies Foundation, funds left-wing movements and organisations including Planned Parenthood and Black Lives Matter.

Negative attitudes towards Soros are often branded as anti-Semitic.

“Soros often is held up by the far-right, using anti-Semitic tropes, as the source of the world’s problems,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League tweeted on Monday.

“To see Elon Musk, regardless of his intent, feed this segment — comparing him to a Jewish supervillain, claiming Soros ‘hates humanity’ — is not just distressing, it’s dangerous.

“It will embolden extremists who already contrive anti-Jewish conspiracies and have tried to attack Soros and Jewish communities as a result.”

Musk denied the accusations of anti-Semitism, labelling himself a “pro-Semite, if anything.”

“I said he reminds me of Magneto,” Musk responded in an interview with CNBC.

“This is like, you know, calm down people. Let’s not like make a metaphorical case out of it.”