(San Francisco) Elon Musk violently attacked Dr Anthony Fauci, the outgoing White House adviser on the COVID-19 pandemic, in a tweet that immediately caused controversy.
“My pronouns are Judge/Fauci,” wrote the wealthy Twitter boss, in an allusion to the right-wing campaign to sue the Dr Fauci for alleged crimes related to his involvement in the pandemic response.
He also posted a meme showing the Dr Fauci telling US President Joe Biden: ‘Just another lockdown, my king […] ”, in an apparent criticism of this measure adopted in the past to fight against COVID-19.
This tweet quickly went viral, receiving more than 800,000 likes in about 11 hours, but also drawing criticism.
Vaccine specialist and author Peter Hotez called on Mr Musk to delete the post. “200,000 Americans have needlessly lost their lives to COVID-19, because of this kind of anti-science rhetoric and misinformation,” he said.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar praised the way the Dr Fauci “calmly guided our country through the crisis” and pinned Elon Musk: “Could you just leave this man alone, in your seemingly endless quest for attention? »
Republican lawmakers have threatened to lash out at Fauci when they take control of the House of Representatives in January, after several rows with him over COVID-19 vaccines, mandatory mask-wearing and protective clothing. other pandemic-related measures.
First adviser to Republican President Donald Trump before Democrat Joe Biden, the Dr Fauci found himself embroiled in countless controversies, he who had always been careful to stay away from politics. In 2020, during press conferences at the White House, he politely corrected President Trump several times.
The 81-year-old immunologist is due to step down as presidential adviser on the pandemic this month. He will also leave before the end of the year his position as director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which he held for 38 years.
In November, he said the biggest difficulty he had faced in the fight against COVID-19 was the country’s political polarization.