Timing. That is what this looks like.
Elon Musk spent Wednesday and Thursday flooding his X feed with posts supporting the mass deportation of immigrants from the UK. Some of the rhetoric implied violent methods. It was a strange preamble for a company about to sell shares to the public.
The anger centered on a knife attack in Belfast last Monday. A 30-year old Sudanese refugee allegedly stabbed an Irish man. The refugee is a legal resident, charged now with attempted murder. Official word.
What did Musk actually say?
He amplified Rupert Lowe. A Member of Parliament, founder of Restore Britain, an anti-immigrant political force. Lowe called for deporting anyone who couldn’t support themselves financially. Musk shared a clip. Then he shared a Restore Britain post about “reversing the third-worldification of our country.”
He liked the phrase. He agreed with the sentiment.
Lowe claimed Britain has an immigration problem, not a racism problem. Musk replied “Yes”. Just that. One word. When someone else quoted Lowe on “reverse mass migration” and demanded the government be imprisoned for harboring “invaders”, Musk hit reply again. “Yes”. Earlier this week Lowe said millions need to leave. Or be made to.
The backlash was physical.
Riots broke out in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland. Cars burned. Buses flipped. Trash cans ignited. The New York Times reported protesters targeting immigrant homes. On Tuesday night firefighters pulled families from their burning houses. The victim survived, seriously injured. He asked for calm.
Ofcom, the UK regulator, won’t touch X for promoting the incitement for at least two months. The Guardian reported it. Musk denied the platform caused the riots. Blamed the migrants. Called them murderers. Blamed their existence for the anger.
Does it matter for SpaceX?
The Business Side of the Storm
SpaceX filed for its IPO last month. They admitted the risk.
“The actions and statements of Mr. Mus… may draw significant public attention,” the SEC filing said. It could help or hurt the stock price. Relationships with customers. Regulators. Everything is tied to him.
His other venture, xAI, is tangled in a class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs claim Grok used their photos to generate child sexual abuse material. Early in the year xAI joined SpaceX. The lawsuit sticks.
Before the offering even started, activists got creative.
Safe AI Now (SANE) dropped a 40-foot inflatable effigy of Musk in Times Square. The torso bore a message linking SpaceX and Grok directly to the abuse material. It was hard to miss. Wired covered the stunt.
The numbers didn’t seem to care.
SpaceX is offering 555 million shares. $135 apiece. Friday is the day. June 12. The valuation sits near $1.75 trillion. Investors are buying anyway.
$100 billion worth of stock orders from retail traders alone, according to Forbes. They are writing the checks. Musk’s comments haven’t cooled the appetite yet. He might become the world’s first trillionaire tomorrow.
Is the silence from shareholders consent? Or just greed wearing a mask?
