Elon Musk calls out corporate trend of pride flags and gets torched for hypocrisy

Boca Chica, Texas - Elon Musk is calling out corporations that slap a rainbow flag on their merch just to push more product on Pride Month, but it didn't take long for Twitter users to serve him with some receipts.

Musk's rainbow-colored kettle called corporate pots, well, rainbow-colored.
Musk's rainbow-colored kettle called corporate pots, well, rainbow-colored.  © Collage: REUTERS

Musk, who is still in Twitter buyout limbo, dropped a tweet on Tuesday which said, "June is almost here." It featured tech companies' logos in the rainbow pride colors photoshopped on a swirling tornado.

It's a not-so-subtle jab at the trend of corporate efforts to make a buck or two off the month which celebrates LGBTQ+ rights, despite the almost complete lack of interest for the rest of the year.

Now, there's nothing wrong with pointing that hypocrisy out – as long as there's also a Tesla logo in there.

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Twitter users were quick to dig up past tweets from Musk's own companies celebrating Pride Month, justifiably asking Musk: "this you?"

Musk's memes bring all the bigots to the yard

The other problem with Musk's original tweet is that it ended up luring folks who have a problem with the awareness month.

Maxwell Adler pulled together a few particularly choice replies in a tweet to showcase the tone from many users who felt free to interpret the billionaire's point in a very different way.

Thinly-veiled and sometimes outright bigoted replies in the Twitter thread highlight how there are still people who are angry about another person's sexuality, and ready to come out of the woodwork to bash any attempts to celebrate that difference.

Memes and triggered commenters aside, Musk does have a point about how companies wave the flag when it is convenient for marketing purposes, but put the flag away once June is over. It's just probably a point not best made with a cheap meme.

Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS

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