A new controversy has sparked in the US following Elon Musk’s decision to rehire a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee, Marko Elez, who was previously let go for making racist comments online, The Hill reported. Elez had resigned on Thursday (US local time) after The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) uncovered several racist posts made from a now-deleted account. One post, dating back to September, read, “Normalize Indian hate,” while another reportedly stated, “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity.”
Musk initiated a poll on X (formerly Twitter), asking users, “Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?” To Musk’s surprise, 78% of respondents voted in favor of rehiring Elez.
Following this poll, Musk made the decision to bring Elez back into the fold. Musk explained his rationale in a post, writing, “He will be brought back. To err is human, to forgive divine.”
US Vice President JD Vance, who had expressed his disagreement with some of Elez’s posts, voiced his support for giving him a second chance. Vance argued that “stupid social media activity” shouldn’t ruin someone’s life and that Elez should only be fired if he was genuinely a bad person or a poor team member.
Vance’s comments garnered attention, partly due to his wife, Usha Vance, being of Indian origin. Usha, the first Indian-American Second Lady of the United States, is the daughter of Indian immigrants from Andhra Pradesh. She completed her education at prestigious institutions such as Cambridge and Yale.
Despite Vance’s defense of Elez, his remarks faced criticism from Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna. Khanna questioned whether Elez would apologize for his post about “Normalize Indian hate” before being reinstated.
In response, Vance defended his position by emphasizing that it was not internet trolls, but rather a culture that “denies grace to people who make mistakes,” that posed a threat to his family. He explained that everyone, including his children, would likely develop views they later regret and emphasized the importance of fostering growth, remorse, and grace.
Congressman Khanna, however, reiterated his stance, stating that while grace is important, it is essential for Elez to apologize before being rehired. “If you are going to rehire someone to represent you & the USA, why not insist he apologize for saying ‘Normalize Indian hate?’” Khanna said.
Khanna, who has been an outspoken critic of racism against Indian-Americans, previously condemned attacks on Indian-born Sriram Krishnan, who was appointed as Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy by President Trump in December 2021.
