Human rights activists urge Elon Musk to apologize for mocking gender pronouns in one of his tweets.
Musk made fun of those who mention gender pronouns in their bios. A gay-rights group recently asked Musk to apologize for his statement. The group had earlier appreciated the behavior of his company, Tesla, towards the LGBTQ community.
The continuous criticism and demand to apologize lead Musk to share Tesla’s Corporate Equality Index.
The equality scorecard was proof of Tesla’s supportive behavior towards LQBTQ employees. The Human Rights Campaign condemned his controversial statement and said that the annual ranking report couldn’t cover what he has said, and he must apologize.
The President of the organization, Alphonso David, said Musk’s statement was exactly opposite to the traits of an unbiased and open-minded leader. He also added that his behavior was inappropriate and contradicted the practices that they expect from companies. “An apology is due on him,” David was convinced that Musk should acknowledge his mistake publicly.
The controversy sparked when Musk shared a meme on his Twitter account displaying a soldier’s face covered in blood, and he was wearing a hat that had “I Love to oppress” written on it.
The billionaire CEO of Tesla captioned the picture with a phrase that says, “When you put he/him in the bio.” The tweet outraged thousands of people as it was an insult to all the trans people.
People who experience a transition from one sex to another usually put their preferred pronouns in their bios. Musk ridiculed all such people, and this sparked a debate on Twitter. The statement harmed all transgender people’s sentiments, and Musk had to face a firestorm of criticism.
In response to all the comments, Musk shared a report highlighting Tesla’s perfect score given by HRC on its equality index. He also wrote that he respect and support the trans community, but the gender pronouns are an “esthetic nightmare.”
HRC gave Tesla 100/100 for its unbiased and friendly policies towards LGBTQ workers. The company thinks despite the perfect equality score of Tesla, Musk’s insensitive comment can’t be ignored. Tesla has yet to comment on the situation.