Elon Musk wrote a message on Friday to those who want to end the H1-B visa program: “F**k yourself in the face,” which is a line from the 2008 comedy film Tropic Thunder.
Siriam Krishnan’s appointment as a senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy sparked a widespread debate over the H1-B visa program. Conservatives have slammed the program as “abusive” and said it is designed to undercut wages of white-collar Americans. Vivek Ramaswamy supercharged the debate when he claimed that America “has venerated mediocrity over excellence.”
Musk is a vehement supporter of the H1-B visa program.
One X user on Friday stated, “Let’s optimize H1-B,” a reference to Musk’s belief that things that should not exist should not be optimized.
“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk raged in response to the X user. “Take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
Musk’s comment is a paraphrase of a line from the 2008 comedy film Tropic Thunder, as seen in the scene below:
This is not the first incendiary comment Musk has made during the contentious online debate about the H1-B visa.
He accused many users who are critical of the visa program of racism and said that these “contemptible fools” must be removed from the Republican Party, although he later emphasized that he was specifically referring to the “hateful, unrepentant racists”:
“They will absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed,” he added.
A Rasmussen Reports poll found that 60 percent of likely American voters believe the country does not need more foreign H1-B visa workers to fill white-collar jobs.
Breitbart News has long reported the countless incidents where white-collar Americans are laid off and forced to train their foreign replacements.
Not all of those in the world of technology agree with Musk’s pro-H1-B visa stance: Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate in 2024, is staunchly critical of the program.
On Thursday, she said that the visa program delivers “massive breaks” for cheap labor for tech companies, and those with the visas are essentially ‘indentured servants’ for big tech”:
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
