Elon Musk classifies Humza Yousaf as a ‘super racist scoundrel’

Elon Musk labeled Humza Yousaf a “super racist scoundrel” and challenged the former prime minister to sue him.

The billionaire said “go ahead, make my day” following reports that Yousaf was considering taking legal action in an escalating social media dispute between the pair on X, formerly Twitter, which is owned by Mr. Musk.

On Sunday, Musk effectively branded Yousaf a “dangerous race-baiter” in response to the former SNP leader sharing an article in the Sunday Mail claiming he was “considering all options”, including going to court.

The exchange came two days after Musk described Yousaf as a “super, super racist” and said he “hates white people.”

The comments were in response to an attack the former SNP leader launched against Musk at the Edinburgh Fringe.

He described Musk, one of the richest people in the world, as “one of the most dangerous men on the planet” and accused him of trying to stoke civil wars in Europe.

Musk’s allegations of racism against Yousaf date back to last year, when he responded to a three-year-old speech Yousaf gave at Holyrood at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The then SNP Justice Secretary highlighted that a succession of figures in Scottish public life were white.

Musk repeated the racism allegation in recent days in response to Yousaf’s widely publicized comments in the Scottish capital.

“Anyone who accesses social media, even if they own the platform and thinks freedom of expression is absolute, whether in the UK or the US, needs to think again,” said Aamer Anwar, Yousaf’s lawyer.

“Freedom of expression carries responsibility and if you break the law there are consequences, as we have seen in the last few days.

“Elon Musk effectively painted a target on Humza Yousaf’s back with his completely unacceptable, false and inflammatory comments.”

On Sunday, Yousaf shared the report about X that raised the prospect of him taking legal action. He followed up the link to the news by calling Musk a “dangerous racial provocateur,” adding that “his billions won’t stop me from calling out his support for the far right.”

Musk responded by agreeing with a comment in which another social media user told Yousaf that he was a “dangerous race-baiter who must be held accountable for his actions.”

Musk later added: “He’s obviously super racist against white people. I dare that scoundrel to sue me. Go ahead, make my day…”

Although the pair have previously clashed on social media, the latest row erupted over comments Yousaf made at the Edinburgh Fringe to broadcaster Matthew Stadlen.

In comments he later repeated in an interview broadcast on CNN, he accused Musk of using his power and influence for “evil”.

It followed a series of fiery social media interventions by Musk, including claiming that civil war was “inevitable” in the UK.

Yousaf said: “He is not accountable to anyone. He has vast wealth at his fingertips and uses it for some of the most wicked evils I have ever seen.”

The former SNP leader has repeatedly said that Musk was “not an idiot” and that the tech entrepreneur could easily “do a simple Google search” to refute any of the false claims he spread about X.

“Instead, he seeks to expand and perpetuate it,” Yousaf said. “So he amplified these white supremacist, these far-right neo-Nazi conspiracy theories and almost called for civil war in Europe.”

Yousaf has repeatedly rejected any accusations of racism and suggested last week that he could dedicate the rest of his professional life to combating the far right and extremism.

In response to Musk’s initial attack last year, his spokesman said he had “stood firm against hate and intolerance of any kind” throughout his life.

The MSP has repeatedly spoken out about being the target of racist attacks.

Police Scotland received a flood of complaints against Mr Yousaf for the Holyrood speech he gave in 2020, following the introduction of his hate crime laws, but rejected them all.

A fact check by the news agency Reuters found that the speech had been misrepresented online, suggesting that Yousaf was arguing that Scotland contained too many white people, which it did not.

Both Musk and Yousaf have been contacted for comment.

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