SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk received mixed reaction after he shared a meme appearing to criticize both sides of the Covid-19 vaccine debate – vaccinated and unvaccinated – for taking things too seriously.
The meme showed an unvaccinated man alongside a vaccinated man with dozens of needles jabbed into his body and a QR code tattooed on his head. A thought bubble emanating from the two men showed them both wondering why the other wasn’t dead yet.
Though the Thursday post received over 270,000 likes, Musk was soon criticized for portraying both sides equally.
“Please don’t do this,” reacted science education YouTuber Kyle Hill, while another person tweeted, “800,000 Americans are dead you goddamn idiot.”
One woman argued that Musk’s opinions on the pandemic should be taken with a grain of salt, pointing to his prediction in March 2020 that the United States would “probably” experience “close to zero new cases” of Covid-19 by the end of April that year.
Others praised Musk for hitting both sides, however, and argued that critics had misinterpreted the joke.
“I think people are mis-interpreting this meme, @elonmusk isn’t being pro or anti vaccine with this meme, just pointing out that both parties are thinking exactly the same about the other,” one person observed.
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