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Tech billionaire Elon Musk has once again brought up the topic of the “woke mind virus” on his X/Twitter platform, after the press office for California governor Gavin Newsom sarcastically said it was “sorry” his estranged daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson “hates you”.
As a reminder, Wilson requested a name change in legal documents filed in 2022, with her surname switching to that of her mother, Canadian author Justine Wilson – who Musk married in 2000 before the couple divorced in 2008.
Vivian cited the reasons for the change as “gender identity” and “the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form”.
In an interview with right-wing commentator Jordan Peterson last year, Musk claimed he was “essentially tricked into signing documents” and that he “lost my son, essentially”.
“They call it deadnaming for a reason. The reason it’s called deadnaming is because the son is dead,” he said, going on to add that his “son” was “dead” because they were “killed” by the “woke mind virus”.
Wilson clapped back at Musk on Threads, writing at the time that she is “legally recognised as a woman in the state of California and I don’t concern myself with the opinions of those who are below me”.
And speaking of California, Newsom appeared on New York Times columnist Ezra Klein’s show earlier this week and touched upon the topic of trans sports.
“That’s an issue no one wants to hear about, because 80 per cent of people listening disagree with my position on this, but it comes from my heart, not just my head. It wasn’t a political aberration.
“I want to see trans kids… I have a trans godson. There’s no governor who’s signed more pro-trans legislation than I have,” he said.
The America political action committee – the super PAC first set up by Musk to support Donald Trump’s run for president last year – shared a clip from the interview to its X/Twitter account on Thursday.
Newsom’s press office, which has been known for mocking the Trump administration, responded to America (the PAC, not the country) by saying it was “correct” that the governor wants to “see trans kids”, and adding that they were “sorry your daughter hates you, Elon”.
Musk later fired back at Newsom’s team with a tweet deadnaming and misgendering Wilson, in which he claimed: “[She] has a tragic mental illness caused by the evil woke mind virus you push on vulnerable children. I love [Vivian] very much and hope [she] recovers.
“My daughters are Azure, Exa (she goes by Y) and Arcadia, and they do indeed love me very much.”
Wilson is yet to respond to Musk’s post.
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