Elon Musk Defends Posting Fake VP Ad: ‘Parody is Legal in America’

Billionaire Elon Musk is defending his sharing of a fake campaign video for Vice President Kamala Harris to X, formerly Twitter, while taking aim at California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Musk, who purchased the social media platform in 2022 as a self-proclaimed political “moderate,” has since gone on to endorse former President Donald Trump‘s 2024 presidential campaign while vowing to “destroy the woke mind virus.”

On Friday, Musk shared an altered version of a Harris campaign ad with “deepfake” audio of the vice president appearing to call herself a “deep state puppet.” Musk described the fake video as “amazing” in a caption alongside a “face with tears of joy” emoji.

Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee following the withdrawal of President Joe Biden, hit back at the video the next day, with her campaign releasing a statement denouncing “the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”

Newsom also lashed out at Musk for sharing the video on Sunday night, promising on X to sign a bill “in a matter of weeks” that would ban “manipulating a voice” in fake campaign ads.

{snip}

The altered features an imitation Harris voice saying that she is “the ultimate diversity hire” for president, echoing recent Republican attacks labeling the vice president a DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) candidate.

“I was selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire,” the deepfake version of Harris says in the ad. “I’m both a woman and a person of color, so if you criticize anything I say, you’re both sexist and racist.”

{snip}