THE First Minister has responded to Twitter/X owner Elon Musk’s accusation he is a “racist” – by telling him to clean up “unchecked racism” on the platform.
Humza Yousaf was criticised by Musk, the world’s richest man worth an estimated $220.8 billion, over a speech in which the FM pointed out many of the major figures in Scottish public life were white.
Musk responded to a clip of Yousaf’s speech, saying: “What a blatant racist!”
A spokesperson for the First Minister hit back on Friday, calling on the Twitter/X owner to tackle the “racism and hatred that goes unchecked on the social media platform he owns”.
The spokesperson 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."
Musk had been responding to a clip of Yousaf's 2020 speech shared by an account called "End Wokeness".
In the speech, made when he was justice secretary, Yousaf highlighted the dominance of white people in positions of power in Scottish society.
He said: "Almost every trade union in this country (is) headed by people who are white. In the Scottish Government, every director general is white. Every chair of every public body is white.”
His speech came against the backdrop of the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of an unarmed black American man George Floyd by a white police officer.
