Elon Musk manufacturers Humza Yousaf a ‘tremendous racist scumbag’

Elon Musk has branded Humza Yousaf a “tremendous racist scumbag” and dared the previous first minister to sue him.

The billionaire mentioned “go forward, make my day” following reviews that Mr Yousaf was contemplating taking authorized motion in an escalating social media row between the pair on X, previously Twitter, which is owned by Mr Musk.

On Sunday, Mr Musk successfully branded Mr Yousaf a “harmful race baiter”, in response to the previous SNP chief sharing an article within the Sunday Mail claiming that he was “contemplating all choices” together with going to court docket.

The change got here two days after Mr Musk described Mr Yousaf as a “tremendous, tremendous racist” and claimed he “loathes white individuals”.

The feedback had been a response to an assault the ex-SNP chief had launched on Mr Musk on the Edinburgh Fringe.

He described Mr Musk, one of many wealthiest individuals on the planet, as “some of the harmful males on the planet” and accused him of attempting to stoke civil wars in Europe.

The allegations of racism towards Mr Yousaf by Musk date again to final yr, when he responded to a three-year-old speech Mr Yousaf gave at Holyrood on the top of the Black Lives Matter motion.

The then-SNP justice secretary had identified a succession of figures in Scottish public life were white.

Musk has repeated the racism allegation over current days, in response to Mr Yousaf’s broadly reported feedback within the Scottish capital.

“Anyone who goes on social media, even when they personal the platform and thinks that free speech is absolute whether or not within the UK or USA, must assume once more,” Aamer Anwar, Mr Yousaf’s lawyer, mentioned.

“Free speech carries duty and if you happen to break the legislation there are penalties, as we have seen in recent days.

“Elon Musk has successfully painted a goal on Humza Yousaf’s again along with his fully unacceptable, unfaithful and inflammatory feedback.”

On Sunday, Mr Yousaf shared the report on X which had raised the prospect of him taking authorized motion.

He accompanied the hyperlink to the information story by calling Musk a “harmful race baiter” including that “his billions received’t cease me calling out his help for the far-right.”

Musk responded by agreeing with a remark wherein one other social media person instructed Mr Yousaf it was he who was a “harmful race baiter who should be held to account in your actions.”

Musk later added: “He’s clearly tremendous racist towards white individuals. I dare that scumbag to sue me. Go forward, make my day…”

Whereas the pair have clashed earlier than on social media, their newest row has erupted over feedback Mr Yousaf made on the Edinburgh Fringe, to broadcaster Matthew Stadlen.

In remarks that he later repeated in a broadcast interview with CNN, he accused Musk of utilizing his energy and affect for “evil”.

It adopted a collection of inflammatory social media interventions by Musk, together with claiming that civil conflict was “inevitable” within the UK.

Mr Yousaf mentioned: “He isn’t accountable to anyone. He has huge wealth at his fingertips, and he makes use of it for a few of the most depraved, evil I’ve seen.”

The previous SNP chief repeatedly mentioned Musk was “not an fool” and that the tech entrepreneur might simply “do a easy Google search” to disprove any of the false claims he unfold on X.

“As a substitute he seeks to amplify it and perpetuate it,” Mr Yousaf mentioned. “So he’s amplified these white supremacists, these far-right neo-Nazi conspiracy theories and has virtually referred to as for civil conflict in Europe.”

Mr Yousaf has repeatedly rejected any accusations of racism and steered final week that he could commit the remainder of his working life to countering the far proper and extremism.

In response to Musk’s preliminary assault final yr, his spokesman mentioned he had “stood agency towards hatred and bigotry, of any sort” all through his life.

The MSP has repeatedly spoken about being focused by racist assaults.

Police Scotland acquired a deluge of complaints towards Mr Yousaf for the Holyrood speech he gave in 2020, following the introduction of his hate crime legal guidelines, however dismissed all of them.

A reality verify by the information company Reuters discovered that the speech had been misrepresented on-line to recommend Mr Yousaf had been arguing that Scotland contained too many white individuals, which he didn’t.

Each Mr Musk and Mr Yousaf have been approached for remark.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.