Elon Musk calls Humza Yousaf a blatant racist over whites fill all top roles in Scotland

Elon Musk has called Humza Yousaf a “blatant racist” in response to video footage of a speech the First Minister gave decrying the lack of prominent non-white people in Scotland.

The world’s richest man took to his X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, to launch the attack on Mr Yousaf after viewing a post that contained a clip from the 2020 speech.

Mr Yousaf, who was then Scottish justice secretary, took part in a Holyrood debate on challenging racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in May that year. The footage has since been used to claim he is bigoted.

He said: “Some people have been surprised or taken aback by my mention on my social media that at 99 per cent of the meetings that I go to, I am the only non-white person in the room.

“Why are we so surprised when the most senior positions in Scotland are filled almost exclusively by people who are white?

“Take my portfolio, for example. The Lord President? White. The Lord Justice Clerk? White. Every High Court judge? White. The Lord Advocate? White. The Solicitor General? White? The chief constable? White. Every deputy chief constable? White. Every assistant chief constable? White. The head of the Law Society? White. The head of the Faculty of Advocates? White. And every prison governor? White.”

Mr Yousaf argued the same was true of some senior positions in the Scottish NHS, social work, trade unions and “every director general” of a Scottish government department.

Footage of the speech was posted on Twitter by an account called “End Wokeness”, along with the message: “Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf openly despises white people.

“Why would Scotland’s Parliament and King select a guy who hates almost 100% of the country?” 

By 1pm on Friday, the message had attracted 7.3 million views.

‘Racists foaming at the mouth’

Mr Musk, the South African-born entrepreneur, responded to the video by posting to his 161 million followers: “What a blatant racist!”

Mr Yousaf did not name the Tesla owner but responded to critics of the speech by tweeting: “Racists foaming at the mouth at my very existence.”

Poking fun at them, he compared himself to a GIF showing Scottish Asian shopkeeper character Navid dancing in TV comedy Still Game.

Mr Yousaf’s spokesman said: “The First Minister has been on the receiving end of racist hate, abuse and death threats his entire life, and has stood firm against hatred and bigotry, of any kind, throughout.

“Sadly, much of the racist abuse and threats of violence the First Minister faces are directed his way on X – formerly known as Twitter.

“Mr Musk should use his position to tackle racism and hatred that goes unchecked on the social media platform he owns.”

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbHLnp6rmaCde6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwfo9ramhpYGR%2FeHvEpaanZZ2qwKx5wKmnnpmiqHq1u4ycmKWkXZ3CrsbAZrCoraOWs26tjJujmqyRo8FuvsCcoKysXw%3D%3D