If, culturally, you thought we left “the R-word” back in the late ’90s, you’d unfortunately be wrong.
Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s buddy-in-chief and the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is among those who uses the slur regularly: In the past year, Musk, has used “retarded” as an insult at least a dozen times on X, the social media platform he owns and obsessively posts on.
Musk ― who’s always been something of a shit poster, even at 53 ― has directed the word at famed Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, actor Ben Stiller, and most recently, Timothy Snyder, a Yale history professor and authoritarianism expert who got under Musk’s skin by criticizing the Trump administration.
“I’m tempted to call this guy a retard but I won’t because I’ve used that word too many times,” Musk tweeted to his almost 200 million followers on Feb. 22 in response to commentary from Snyder.
You can’t lay the blame for the R-word’s comeback all at Musk’s feet ― it’s true that 4-Chan posters and wannabe edge lord comedians never stopped using the word ― but it’s undeniable that Musk’s voice has an impact. A recent study out of Montclair State University found that the use of the slur triples on X when the tech CEO tweets the word himself.
“Unfortunately the R-word is a word that is starting to come back into conversation because more people in positions of power — whether they be political leaders, business leaders, celebrities — are using it as part of their normal dialogue,” said Christy Weir, who works for the Special Olympics, the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Trump himself, of course, is not above insulting people, including those with disabilities: On the 2016 campaign trail, he mocked a reporter’s disability by performing an impression of the man. Throughout the last campaign, Trump called both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “mentally disabled” ― one step below the R-word in offensiveness.
In some ways, the R-word’s resurgence is a depressing sign of our political moment: There’s an inherent meanness to the way the Trump administration and the president’s various cronies conduct themselves.
You can see it on the White House’s social media feeds, which include mock ASMR videos of deportations and posts mocking Selena Gomez for a tearful video she posted in response to ICE raids.
It’s aptly been called a “politics of cruelty,” and if cruelty is the name of the game, slurs like the R-word or using “gay” as a pejorative fit right in.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, uses the R-word freely. President Donald Trump, pictured in the background, made fun of a disabled reporter on the campaign trail in 2016. Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
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Some couldn’t be happier about the comeback. In January, the Financial Times interviewed a number of finance bros who were glad that Trump won and that “woke” lost the election, if only because they figured it meant they’d no longer have to self-censor their language around women, minorities and disabled people.
“I feel liberated,” one Wall Street banker told the paper. “We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled ... it’s a new dawn.”
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Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s buddy-in-chief and the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is among those who uses the slur regularly: In the past year, Musk, has used “retarded” as an insult at least a dozen times on X, the social media platform he owns and obsessively posts on.
Musk ― who’s always been something of a shit poster, even at 53 ― has directed the word at famed Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, actor Ben Stiller, and most recently, Timothy Snyder, a Yale history professor and authoritarianism expert who got under Musk’s skin by criticizing the Trump administration.
“I’m tempted to call this guy a retard but I won’t because I’ve used that word too many times,” Musk tweeted to his almost 200 million followers on Feb. 22 in response to commentary from Snyder.
You can’t lay the blame for the R-word’s comeback all at Musk’s feet ― it’s true that 4-Chan posters and wannabe edge lord comedians never stopped using the word ― but it’s undeniable that Musk’s voice has an impact. A recent study out of Montclair State University found that the use of the slur triples on X when the tech CEO tweets the word himself.
“Unfortunately the R-word is a word that is starting to come back into conversation because more people in positions of power — whether they be political leaders, business leaders, celebrities — are using it as part of their normal dialogue,” said Christy Weir, who works for the Special Olympics, the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Trump himself, of course, is not above insulting people, including those with disabilities: On the 2016 campaign trail, he mocked a reporter’s disability by performing an impression of the man. Throughout the last campaign, Trump called both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “mentally disabled” ― one step below the R-word in offensiveness.
In some ways, the R-word’s resurgence is a depressing sign of our political moment: There’s an inherent meanness to the way the Trump administration and the president’s various cronies conduct themselves.
You can see it on the White House’s social media feeds, which include mock ASMR videos of deportations and posts mocking Selena Gomez for a tearful video she posted in response to ICE raids.
It’s aptly been called a “politics of cruelty,” and if cruelty is the name of the game, slurs like the R-word or using “gay” as a pejorative fit right in.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, uses the R-word freely. President Donald Trump, pictured in the background, made fun of a disabled reporter on the campaign trail in 2016. Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
More
Some couldn’t be happier about the comeback. In January, the Financial Times interviewed a number of finance bros who were glad that Trump won and that “woke” lost the election, if only because they figured it meant they’d no longer have to self-censor their language around women, minorities and disabled people.
“I feel liberated,” one Wall Street banker told the paper. “We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled ... it’s a new dawn.”
For the full story, click here:
Elon Musk Has Brought 'The R-Word' Back — And It's Part Of A Disturbing New Trend
It fits in with a "politics of cruelty" that's been running rampant in the White House.
