The White House on Monday condemned billionaire Elon Musk after he ridiculed President Joe Biden’s close coronavirus advisor and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci on social media.
“My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Musk wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday.
My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2022
The message went rival on social media earning 177,000 retweets and 1.1 million likes in less than 24 hours.
“Truth resonates,” Musk added.
He also shared a meme portraying Fauci as the character Wormtongue from the Lord of the Rings.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2022
But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized Musk’s social media remarks as “dangerous.”
“These attacks, these personal attacks that we have been seeing are dangerous on Dr. Fauci and other public health officials as well, they are disgusting and they are divorced of reality,” she said during the daily briefing.
She said the White House would continue to defend Fauci from criticism of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will continue to call that out and be very clear about that, again, these are incredibly dangerous, these personal attacks that we are seeing,” she said.
She reminded reporters that Fauci had served under seven presidents and that Americans were “fortunate” to benefit from the “life and exceptional talent” of the polarizing health official.
“That’s what should be discussed right now, that’s what we should be discussed right now, that’s what we should be thankful to him about,” she said.
Fauci made headlines over the weekend after participating in an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace and spoke of the “difficulty” of serving in President Donald Trump’s administration.
“I couldn’t stand there and be complicit in saying hydroxychloroquine works when it doesn’t, you know, bleach works, it doesn’t,” he said. “That is how I evolved into public enemy number one of the far-right.”
