Elon Musk To Reinstate Controversial Figure Nick Fuentes, Head Of Groyper White Nationalist Movement, To X

In a response to X / Twitter user @GoyaBeanGroyper earlier today, Elon Musk agreed to reinstate white nationalist groyper leader Nick Fuentes to the platform.

The decision came after Musk got involved in a thread with the groypers (a white nationalist and alt-right group that uses a fat Pepe as a mascot) during a separate conversation in which Musk made fun of leftist influencer @JoshuaPHill's purported "goldfish brain."

On the same thread, the groypers accused Musk of "working for the Jews," charges which he refuted while claiming he was actually "philosemitic."

Seemingly under pressure from anonymous users who called him a hypocrite, Musk then agreed to put Fuentes, a noted and self-proclaimed neo-Nazi, back on X.

"[Fuentes] will be reinstated," Musk wrote, "provided he does not violate the law, and let him be crushed by the comments and Community Notes." The logic given by Musk was that it is better to allow Fuentes on X than to permit his ideas to "grow simmering in the darkness."

Fuentes is arguably as unpopular on the right as he is on the left and center, but some right-wing influencers appeared to understand Musk's decision as a free-speech move.

This was how he interpreted it himself, writing that he was willing to take the hit with advertisers.

Since Musk's purchase, Twitter / X has been dogged with financial woes and controversy. Much of these come from advertisers who don't want their brands associated with people like Nick Fuentes.

Fuentes was originally banned in January 2023 for making repeated and profane antisemitic comments. Commenters like Tristan Tate, brother of Andrew Tate who has been charged in a sex trafficking ring with him, applauded the move by Musk.

Regardless of the fallout, the Fuentes reinstatement proved to many how deeply involved Musk is in a particular bubble on X, interacting with and taking suggestions from anonymous accounts with high numbers of followers in the right-wing online community, which has once again resulted in backlash from the platform's users.