Elon Musk is a self-proclaimed champion of free speech, but a litany of reports suggests that his leadership of Twitter, since rebranded as X, has been a catalyst for racist banter and never-ending account suspensions on the platform. However, one person protected from the consequences of violating community guidelines is the tech mogul. According to the Daily Beast, the South African billionaire has taken a liking to the various conjugations of “retard,” most commonly recognized as the R-word. The outlet’s analysis of his use of the epithet determined that it occurred at least 14 times in posts published between Dec. 20 and Jan. 6. The term was canceled over a decade ago when Democratic President Barack Obama signed Rosa’s Law, legislation that swapped out “mentally retarded” for intellectual disability in federal health, education, and labor laws. Elon Musk faces blowback for using a slur while cussing out critic. (Photow: Elonmusk/Twitter, Joniaskola/Twitter) The use of the slur has been widely shunned by individuals who view it as demeaning and a form of bullying others. Musk is seemingly not among the population that subscribes to the change. A week into the start of 2025, the Tesla co-founder lashed out at a critic with the slur. User Joni Askola tweeted, “Elon Musk is rapidly becoming the largest spreader of disinformation in human history, hijacking political debates in the process. The EU must take action!” The billionaire responded, “F u retard.” Askola’s bio describes him as a Finnish Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in the Czech Republic who is “mocking disinformation.” F u retard— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2025 He retweeted the interaction, generating millions of views and hundreds of thousands of interactions from retweets, replies, and likes. Musk seemingly did not regret his actions as he responded, “Yes,” to a supporter who typed, “We could have avoided a lot of disasters by simply telling leftist retards to stfu.” However, countless others did not take his response to being called out lightly. One user asked, “He forgot he wasn’t on the burner account?” The businessman was accused of being the user behind the Twitter account “Adrian Dittman.” Looks like Elon got big mad at ⁦@JSweetLI⁩ for her article about Adrian Dittman.Once again proving that Elon is not a “free speech absolutist” like he claims. pic.twitter.com/Hof4I07lmM— Gabe Sanchez (@iamgabesanchez) January 5, 2025 Musk’s voice was heard in a fiery defense of the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. companies to recruit specially-skilled foreign workers for domestic jobs. At least one person claimed they were served a 12-hour ban from Twitter when they used the word. Someone else sarcastically quipped, “Elon preaching about needing positivity on Twitter, then dropping this?” On Dec. 29, the Donald Trump ally advised users to “Please post a bit more positive, beautiful or informative content on this platform.” Please post a bit more positive, beautiful or informative content on this platform— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2024 Someone else disparaged Musk when they typed, “The hypocrisy is unmatched. Can’t be the ‘Chief Optimist’ and the clown in the same breath.” A third comment read, “Well, you know, he never said that ‘freedom of speech’ is here equally for everyone. He’s acting more and more like a ret*rd himself if you ask me…” “What happened to your positivity algorithm?” a fourth person asked, while a fifth person simply wrote, “Do not ever again demand your users censor themselves after this post.” Musk purchased Twitter in a $44 billion deal in October 2022. He was accused of using the platform to influence the 2024 presidential race between Republican nominee Trump and Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris. ‘He Forgot He Wasn’t on the Burner’: Elon Musk Sparks Outrage For Using a Slur to Curse Out Grad Student Days After Calling for Positivity on X