Elon Musk is facing criticism after perpetuating false information about the Netflix series Adolescence.
The Tesla founder recently reacted to a post on the social media site X (which he owns), falsely claiming that Adolescence was “about a British knife killer who stabbed a girl to death on a bus”, and was inspired by “real-life cases such as the Southport murderer”.
In fact, Adolescence was already in production when the mass stabbing took place in Southport last year, in which three children were killed and 10 more were injured at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
The original post, shared on X last week, claimed that the Adolescence team had “race-swapped the actual killer” in order to make him a “white boy” who was “radicalised online by the red pill movement”, branding the show “anti-white propaganda”.
Despite the post’s alarmist tone and false claims, it was still endorsed by the site’s owner, who responded simply: “Wow.”
Musk was quickly met with criticism about his reply, which remains active on his account at the time of writing.
One user lamented: “Elon Musk’s reckless amplification of misinformation, like the false claim that Adolescence is based on the Southport attack, fuels division and distorts reality.”
Meanwhile, others pointed out that even the basic facts of the original post – including that the murder in Adolescence takes place on a bus – is also incorrect.
HuffPost UK has contacted reps for Elon Musk and Netflix for comment.
Stephen Graham – who co-wrote Adolescence, as well as appearing in three of its four episodes – has previously opened up about his inspiration from the show, insisting it was not based on any one teen murder.
“I read an article in the paper about a young boy who stabbed a young girl to death,” he recalled to Jimmy Fallon. “And then a couple of months later on the news, there was a piece about [another] young boy who stabbed a young girl to death.
“And these were at opposite ends of the country. And if I’m really honest with you, it hurt my heart. And I just think, ’what kind of a society are we living in at the minute where young boys are stabbing young girls?’.”