Speaking at a celebratory rally in Washington, Mr. Musk twice extended his arm out with his palm facing down, drawing comparisons to the Nazi salute.

While speaking to a crowd of MAGA faithful on Monday, Elon Musk made a grunting noise, placed a hand on his heart and extended it outwards in a quick, snapping motion, palm facing down. He then repeated the motion for the people behind him.

"The entrenched interests run deep. They will throw everything they can at Elon to stop change. It won't work. But it's going to get uglier and uglie

At a post-inauguration rally Monday, Elon Musk thanked Donald Trump’s supporters with a gesture that resembled a Roman salute, first putting his palm to his chest and then extending a stiff right arm toward the crowd, at a slight elevation and with his palm down. It wasn’t a one-off. He later repeated the gesture.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk's hand gesture while he spoke during a celebration of President Donald Trump's inauguration drew online comparisons to a Nazi salute on Monday, but a leading tracker of antisemitism said it appeared to represent a moment of enthusiasm instead.

Elon Musk has angered the Jewish community with what appeared to be a 'Nazi salute'. Does he have ties to the religion?

Elon Musk’s controversial gesture, which some interpreted as a Nazi-style salute, drew criticism from Trump’s political opponents and energized fans on the far right.

It was the salute seen around the world — at least if the world and the internet, as it increasingly seems, have merged and become one. I am referring, of course, to the hand gesture made by Elon Musk at yesterday’s presidential inauguration.

"It looked really bad to a lot of us in the Jewish community. And it was being celebrated by white nationalist groups," said Tyler Gregory, CEO of San Francisco's Jewish Community Relations Council.

President Trump took the oath of office for the second time and was sworn in as the 47th president. He laid out a sweeping agenda and declared that the country’s golden age “begins now.”

Elon Musk has responded to allegations that he performed a Nazi salute at President Donald Trump 's inauguration, calling it a "dirty trick" by his critics. Musk addressed the controversy on his platform X (formerly Twitter) Monday night, replying to a user: "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."