Elon Musk has called the First Scottish Minister a “blatant racist” after footage from an old speech emerged.
Taking to his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Musk launched the attack on Humza Yousaf who discussed the lack of prominent non-white people in Scotland.
Mr Yousaf, who was Scottish justice secretary at the time, took part in a Holyrood debate on challenging racism following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
He said in the clip: “Some people have been surprised or taken aback by my mention on my social media that at 99 percent of the meetings that I go to, I am the only non-white person in the room.
“Why are we so surprised when the most senior positions in Scotland are filled almost exclusively by people who are white?
“Take my portfolio, for example. The Lord President? White. The Lord Justice Clerk? White. Every High Court judge? White. The Lord Advocate? White. The Solicitor General? White? The chief constable? White. Every deputy chief constable? White. Every assistant chief constable? White. The head of the Law Society? White. The head of the Faculty of Advocates? White. And every prison governor? White.”
Mr Yousaf argued the same was true of some senior positions in the Scottish NHS, social work, trade unions and “every director general” of a Scottish government department.
The clip was posted on Twitter by an account called “End Wokeness”, along with the message: “Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf openly despises white people.
“Why would Scotland’s Parliament and King select a guy who hates almost 100% of the country?”
Mr Musk responded to the video by posting to his 161 million followers: “What a blatant racist!”
While Mr Yousaf didn’t directly respond to Mr Musk, he responded to critics of the speech by tweeting: “Racists foaming at the mouth at my very existence.”
Mr Yousaf’s spokesman said: “The First Minister has been on the receiving end of racist hate, abuse and death threats his entire life, and has stood firm against hatred and bigotry, of any kind, throughout.
“Sadly, much of the racist abuse and threats of violence the First Minister faces are directed his way on X – formerly known as Twitter. Mr Musk should use his position to tackle racism and hatred that goes unchecked on the social media platform he owns.”
