Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is facing intense backlash after posting a meme on social media featuring Adolf Hitler.
Musk was responding on Twitter to a news report that the Canadian government had ordered financial institutions not to interact with dozens of crypto addresses tied to the nation’s ongoing trucker protests.
In a post sent at 2:46 a.m., Musk tweeted a picture of Adolf Hitler with the caption “Stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau. I had a budget.”
Musk, a bombastic businessman known for his controversial statements on politics, pop culture and economics, was hit with widespread condemnation for the tweet, which was still published as of Thursday morning.
“[Musk] has exercised extremely poor judgment by invoking Hitler to make a point on social media,” the American Jewish Committee said in a post of its own. “Comparing Trudeau to a genocidal dictator who murdered millions is not an appropriate way to criticize policies. He must apologize immediately.”
Others pointed out that Musk has posted pictures of Hitler on social media on previous occasions.
Musk, who hosted “Saturday Night Live” during a recent season, made headlines most recently when a doctors group representing more than 17,000 physicians filed a complaint against a program funded by Musk they said was conducting harmful research on monkeys.