Elon Musk set social media on fire after he posted a meme that some netizens deemed controversial. The image depicts what appears to be an unvaccinated person without a mask alongside an individual who has a QR code on his forehead, is wearing a mask, and whose body is covered in syringes. Both wonder why the other isn’t dead.
The post has received over 11,000 comments, 306,000 likes, and been shared over 54,000 times. People in the comments were divided over the meme. Supporters of safety measures and vaccines have criticised Musk for downplaying the severity of the pandemic.
Individuals who regard the coronavirus restrictions as violating their freedoms as well as opponents of vaccines appeared to back the tech maverick.
Many users argued that the meme was not support for either of the sides.
Still others simply joked about the issue.
This is not the first time that Elon Musk has made statements on the coronavirus pandemic that have raised eyebrows. At the beginning of the pandemic, he came under harsh criticism for downplaying the severity of COVID-19. He claimed US authorities had overcounted COVID-19 deaths and went as far as to suggest that by April 2020, the country would have "close to zero" cases. In addition, Musk criticised "stay at home" orders, calling them "fascist".
At the same time, he purchased 1,200 ventilators used to treat individuals with severe cases of COVID-19 and sent them to California as the state was facing a shortage of medical equipment. Musk’s company Tesla also commissioned a study on the disease to see how the immune system reacts to the virus.