BERLIN: German officials on Friday brushed off tech billionaire Elon Musk labelling Olaf Scholz a “fool” on his social media platform X after the dramatic collapse of the chancellor’s coalition government.

In a comment on Thursday above a post about the implosion of Scholz’s long-troubled coalition, the world’s richest man tweeted in German: “Olaf ist ein Narr” — “Olaf is a fool”.

Asked about Musk’s comment, government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann took a playful dig at the US tycoon, saying that “on X, you have Narrenfreiheit”, which translates to the freedom to act like a fool.

The word refers to revellers during Germany’s traditional carnival season, which starts next week, having the freedom to act without inhibitions.

Historically, the term echoes the notion of the “jester’s privilege” — the right of a court jester to mock those in power without being punished by the king.

Asked later about the comment, a tight-lipped Scholz simply called it “not very friendly”, adding that internet companies are “not organs of state so I did not even pay it any attention”.

Musk supported US election winner Donald Trump and is now positioned to take up a role in his administration as a deputy tasked with restructuring government operations.

It is not the first time the Tesla boss has had run-ins with German officials online.

Last year he said Berlin-funded migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean could be seen as an “invasion” of Italy, sparking a terse response from the German foreign ministry.

He has also expressed sympathy for some of the positions of Germany’s far-right AfD party, which has notched up a string of recent electoral successes and is riding high in the opinion polls.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024