NEW YORK (AP) -- Right-wing extremists are celebrating Elon Musk's straight-arm gesture during a speech Monday, although his intention wasn't totally clear and some hate watchdogs are saying not to read too much into it.
"I just want to say thank you for making it happen," Musk said during a speech at Capitol One Arena on Monday afternoon, referring to Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election. Then he slapped his hand on his chest, extended his arm straight outward and upward with his palm facing downwards. He turned around and made a similar gesture facing the other way.
"My heart goes out to you," he said.
Many social media users noticed that the gesture looked like a Nazi salute. Musk has only fanned the flames of suspicion by not explicitly denying those claims in a dozen posts since, though he did make light of the criticism and lashed out at people making that interpretation.
"The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired," Musk posted on X several hours after he left the stage.
Critics and fans alike of the Tesla CEO and world's richest man were quick to react to the gesture.
"The White Flame will rise again," a chapter of the white nationalist group White Lives Matter posted on Telegram.
"Maybe woke really is dead," white nationalist Keith Woods posted on X.
The Anti-Defamation League, an anti-semitism and human rights watchdog, called it an "awkward gesture" and urged caution in jumping to conclusions. Other extremism watchdogs and experts pointed out it was unclear what Musk was trying to convey to the crowd of Trump's supporters during his speech by thrusting his arm out.
"I'm skeptical it was on purpose," said Jared Holt, a senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks online hate. "It would be an act of self-sabotage that wouldn't really make much sense at all."
Holt noted Musk specifically said his heart went out to the crowd. That could indicate a sort of gesture of thanks to them.
The ADL was equally careful in its reaction.
"It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge," the group said in a statement. "In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath."
Kurt Braddock, a professor of communication at American University who studies extremism, radicalization and terrorism, said the gesture was a fascist salute and "people shouldn't doubt what they saw."
"He's still blowing it off as though it wasn't something serious," Braddock said of Musk. "I know what I saw, I know what the response to it was among elements of the extreme right including neo-Nazis, and I see what the reaction is now. And none of it is a laughing matter."
Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said even if it was accidental, the gesture Musk did has the power to hurt people.
"When you're a public figure at the highest echelons of power on Inauguration Day, doing a salute like that is extraordinarily disturbing and it calls for an explanation from Musk," he said. "Points are made about free speech. Well, along with free speech comes responsibility."
Levin said some extremists will take the gesture regardless of its intent as "some kind of not-so-subtle marching order."
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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.
