Musk Attacks Hathaway Over 2018 LGBTQ+ Equality Speech

Elon Musk has launched a public attack on Anne Hathaway over remarks she made supporting LGBTQ+ rights at a 2018 event, resurfacing a nearly eight-year-old speech to criticize the actress and dismiss her advocacy work.

The 55-year-old businessman posted his criticism via X on Sunday, July 26, responding to a video critique of Hathaway's September 2018 appearance at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner in Washington, D.C. In his post, Musk wrote that Hathaway was merely a puppet for others' ideas.

"She's just a marionette. Whoever wrote her speech is the real douchebag," Musk wrote via X, according to Us Weekly. His comment came in response to marketing professor Gad Saad, 61, who had posted a harsh assessment of the actress's remarks.

The 43-year-old Odyssey star had accepted the Human Rights Campaign's National Ally for Equality award at the event, delivering a speech that addressed systemic inequality and her role as an advocate. During her remarks, Hathaway challenged what she described as harmful societal hierarchies.

"With the exception of being a cisgender male, everything about how I was born has put me at the current center of a damaging and widely accepted myth," Hathaway said at the time, according to Us Weekly. "That myth is that gayness orbits around straitness, transgender orbits around cisgender, and that all races orbit around whiteness. And it is a myth that keeps money and power in the hands of the few, instead of being invested in the lives of the free."

The actress opened her speech by acknowledging her emotional response to current events and her commitment to equality. She told the audience she was frightened by what she witnessed in society but remained dedicated to the values instilled by her parents.

"I'm pretty shellshocked by what I see every day, by what I hear every day. And I really don't like to admit this but I get scared," Hathaway said, according to Us Weekly. "I am just living the values my parents gave me. I'm loving you the way you deserve and yes, I am giving major side eye to anyone that thinks differently."

Hathaway acknowledged the abstract nature of her remarks while recognizing concrete barriers to equality. She concluded by expressing optimism that communities themselves possess the power to dismantle harmful myths.

"I know that myths are destroyed by the same thing that creates them: a community," she explained, according to Us Weekly, receiving immediate applause from attendees.

Saad's critique, which Musk amplified, labeled Hathaway's delivery as displaying self-importance and characterized her speech as fundamentally flawed. The professor captioned his video assessment with inflammatory language calling the actress a narcissist.

In a separate Sunday post on X, Musk continued his criticism, claiming Hathaway was simply reciting words written by others without applying critical analysis. The world's first trillionaire has an extensive record of expressing opposition to transgender rights, despite being the father of 14 children with four different women, including an openly transgender daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson.

The SpaceX founder's recent comments about Hathaway follow his public criticism of The Odyssey, the film in which she portrays Queen Penelope. Musk has argued that director Christopher Nolan's casting decisions, including Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page as the Greek warrior Sinon, fail to present what he considers historical accuracy.

Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X, using the platform to share his views on various cultural and political issues. Neither Hathaway nor representatives for the actress have publicly responded to Musk's recent attacks on her advocacy work.