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Musk’s Hand Gesture During Trump Inauguration Festivities Draws Scrutiny 

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures during a rally on the inauguration day of US President Donald Trump's second Presidential term, inside Capital One, in Washington, US, January 20, 2025. (Reuters)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures during a rally on the inauguration day of US President Donald Trump's second Presidential term, inside Capital One, in Washington, US, January 20, 2025. (Reuters)
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Musk’s Hand Gesture During Trump Inauguration Festivities Draws Scrutiny 

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures during a rally on the inauguration day of US President Donald Trump's second Presidential term, inside Capital One, in Washington, US, January 20, 2025. (Reuters)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures during a rally on the inauguration day of US President Donald Trump's second Presidential term, inside Capital One, in Washington, US, January 20, 2025. (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.

Musk dismissed criticism of the hand gesture as a "tired" attack.

Musk took to the Capital One Arena stage in Washington to huge cheers, pumping his arms and shouting, "Yesssss."

"This was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization," he said. "This one really mattered. Thank you for making it happen! Thank you," he said.

Biting his bottom lip, he thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, then extended his right arm out, emphatically, at an upward angle, palm down and fingers together. Then he turned and made the same hand gesture to the crowd behind him.

"My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured," he said as he finished the gesture.

The gestures were quickly scrutinized online.

"Did Elon Musk Sieg Heil at Trump's inauguration?" asked the Jerusalem Post.

The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks antisemitism, disagreed.

"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," it posted on Monday.

"Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired," Musk said on his social media platform X late on Monday.

Soon after his speech, Musk posted a Fox video clip of portions of his speech on X, that cut away from the podium when he made the first gesture while facing the cameras. "The future is so exciting," he wrote above it.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Some X users came to Musk's defense, claiming that Musk was expressing "my heart goes out to you" and criticizing posts that suggested otherwise.

Musk has backed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-immigration, anti-Islamic party labeled as right-wing-extremist by German security services, in an upcoming national election. He hosted a broadcast with the party's leader on his social media platform earlier this month.

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Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
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Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)

Northern Ireland's Giant Causeway draws close to one million visitors a year but their habit of wedging tiny coins in cracks between the rocks -- to bring love or luck -- is damaging the world-famous wonder.

Now authorities are urging tourists to keep their coins in their pockets to preserve the spectacular landscape.

Some 40,000 columns mark the causeway, Northern Ireland's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Geologists say the natural phenomenon was created by an outpouring of basalt lava 60 million years ago.

Legend has it that the causeway was formed by Irish giant Finn McCool.

In recent decades, visitors have pushed thousands of coins into fissures in the rocks.

The gesture is "a token of love or luck", according to Cliff Henry, the causeway's nature engagement officer.

But the coins rapidly corrode and expand, causing the basalt to flake and leaving "unsightly" rust-colored streaks, Henry told AFP.

He pointed to streaks on a rock and gingerly prized out a US cent with a set of keys.

"We get a lot of euros and dollar cents. But coins from literally all over the world -- any currency you can think of, pretty much -- we have had it here," he said.

A report by the British Geological Survey in 2021 revealed that the coins were "doing some serious damage" and something had to be done about it, he noted.

Signs are now in place around the site appealing to tourists to "leave no trace".
"Once some visitors see other people have done it, they feel that they need to add to it," causeway tour guide Joan Kennedy told AFP.

She and her colleagues now gently but firmly tell tourists to desist.

At the exit from the causeway, a US couple said they were "distressed" to hear of the damage the metal caused.

"Our guide mentioned as we came up that people had been putting coins into the stones. It's really terrible to hear that," said Robert Lewis, a 75-year-old from Florida.

"It's kind of like damaging any kind of nature when you are doing something like that, putting something foreign into nature. It's not good," said his wife, Geri, 70.

As part of a £30,000 ($40,000) conservation project, stone masons recently removed as many coins as they could -- without causing further damage -- from 10 test sites around the causeway.

Henry said the trial was successful and is to be expanded across the causeway.

"If we can get all those coins removed to start with that will help the situation and hopefully no more coins will be put in," he said.

"If visitors see fewer coins in the stones and hear appeals to stop the damaging practice, the problem can maybe be solved.

"We know that visitors love and cherish the Giant's Causeway, and many form deep personal connections to it, so we want this natural wonder to remain special for future generations."