Elon Musk is hitting back at the UK government for not inviting him to the International Investment Summit in October despite not attending last year's event.
The UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes the Summit will attract tens of billions of pounds from investors around the world. The world's richest man will not be one of them, according to the BBC, because of his posts during last month's violent anti-immigration protests and riots across England and Northern Island.
While UK citizens were getting jailed for sharing "hateful" posts on social media, Musk tweeted "Civil war is inevitable" in response to a video of UK protestors aiming fireworks at law enforcement officers. Starmer's spokesperson later said there was "no justification" for Musk's comments and that social media companies "can and should be doing" more.
Civil war is inevitable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 4, 2024
After news broke that Musk was "snubbed" from this year's Summit, he tweeted, "I don't think anyone should go to the UK when they're releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts." Musk was seemingly referring to the 40 inmates that were mistakenly released from prison; none of whom are sex offenders the BBC reported.
I don't think anyone should go to the UK when they're releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2024
Starmer declined to comment on the billionaire not being invited to the event and his subsequent backlash. However, Jeremy Hunt, the former Conservative chancellor and current shadow chancellor, called Musk's absence a "big loss."
"He told me last year he was planning a new car plant in Europe and had not decided where but the UK was a candidate," Hunt told the BBC.
