Elon Musk says diversity efforts are propaganda and ‘DEI must die’

Ladies and gentleman, the moment we’ve all been waiting for is here: Elon Musk has given his thoughts on DE&I.

The richest man in the world and owner of X (formerly Twitter) attacked diversity programs late Thursday night in a post, saying, “DEI must die.” In a follow-up post on Dec. 16, Musk proclaimed, “‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ are propaganda words for racism, sexism and other -isms. This is just as morally wrong as any other racism and sexism. Changing the target class doesn’t make it right!”

Musk may believe that DE&I efforts are meant to punish a certain group of people, but a DE&I expert explained how some dissenters ignore how equity and inclusion are built to help everyone succeed.

The latest. This is just the latest attack on an industry under increased scrutiny over the last year, largely from politicians.

A quick look at just some of the events that got us here:

• In 2022, Starbucks was sued for tying executive compensation to DE&I goals. The suit was ultimately dismissed as “frivolous” in August 2023.
• In June, affirmative action in universities was deemed illegal by SCOTUS.
• America First Legal Foundation, which is run by former Trump advisor Stephen Miller, has sued several companies, including Kellogg’s, Nordstrom, and Unilever, for their diversity practices in the last year.
• Billionaire Bill Ackman went after DE&I at universities in early December, claiming Harvard University’s president was a so-called diversity hire.

Some politicians and business leaders (like Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus) brand organizations that deploy diversity efforts as “woke” and allege reverse discrimination. And while Musk claims to be against DE&I, his EV company, Tesla, releases an annual impact report and boasts that 67% of its employees are from underrepresented backgrounds.

Yes, but. Despite claims that DE&I strategies are harmful and encourage “reverse racism,” the data shows that white men are still the majority in positions of corporate power. Jarvis Sam, founder of the Rainbow Disruption, a DE&I consultancy, and former chief diversity officer at Nike and Snap, said Musk’s portrayal of DE&I could ultimately be used as a weapon for those in the traditional majority.

“When you’re able to create a space where we put instructions of what DE&I does, or is meant to do, in such an elementary standard, that forces certain communities to believe that it is merely a social intervention that is meant to…somehow deny opportunity to the already highly represented majority population,” Sam told HR Brew.

He also pointed out how Musk and other DE&I critics focus on representation, rather than equity and inclusion, something he suspects may allow them to feel as though the opportunity cards are now stacked against them.

“When we jump into inclusion, it is about creating a culture and an environment where everyone can thrive and feel a sense of psychological safety in the workplace,” Sam explained. “That is a standard that is applicable to cisgendered, straight, white men, as much as it is to those that are the most marginalized amongst us.”

Musk’s words aren’t inconsequential, and could have ramifications beyond just creating a larger platform for DE&I dissent. Employees at Tesla and other Musk-owned companies could be hurt as well.

“Someone like Elon Musk has to recognize the incredibly wide shadow that his words and sentiments capture,” Sam said. “When you have an executive leader that’s not demonstrating very clear accountability and conscientiousness around this…it can leave employees feeling incredibly unsupported, psychologically unsafe, and very challenged in their space.”

Up next: Will Musk weigh in on why Paw Patrol will lead to society’s downfall?