Dr Fauci responds to Elon Musk with withering description of Twitter

Twitter owner Elon Musk recently attacked immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci for his involvement in the US' policies and procedures around Covid.

And now, the chief medical advisor for President Joe Biden has called Musk's comments a "distraction."

On Sunday (11 December), the Tesla and SpaceX CEO took to his Twitter, embodying far-right talking points about the medical professional. He also seemingly attempted to ridicule pronouns.

"My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci," he wrote.

On Monday (12 December), CNN's Erin Burnett previewed an upcoming interview between Fauci and David Axelrod, a fellow CNN commentator, podcast host of The Axe Files, and former adviser to President Barack Obama.

They discussed the tech billionaire's sentiments.

"I don't respond to him," said the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director.

Fauci also said he doesn't give him attention because it's "merely a distraction."

"And if you get drawn into that, and I have to be honest, that cesspool of interaction, it's… there's no value added to that David," he continued.

Hear Fauci's response to Elon Musk's attackswww.youtube.com

Musk continued to spark backlash online by sharing other posts about Fauci.

One of those posts was a meme from the Lord of the Rings, which showed Fauci by Biden's ear, telling him, "Just one more lockdown, my king…"

This seemed to be an implied criticism of the Coronavirus measures that were taken, although they were first enacted under former President Donald Trump.

The White House has since condemned Musk's sentiments, with spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre noting that the "personal attacks" are "incredibly dangerous."

"They are disgusting, and they are divorced from reality," she said on Monday (12 December).

Elsewhere, Fauci reiterated his feelings about the situation to reporter Max Kozlov of Nature magazine, noting that he wasn't bothered by Musk.

"A lot of that stuff is just a cesspool of misinformation, and I don't waste a minute worrying about it," Fauci said.

And although Fauci is taking the high road, people still jumped to his defence.

"News Flash @ElonMusk, your insatiable need for attention is endangering millions of lives. Allowing Covid disinformation to run rampant is not free speech. It's reckless," tweeted Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO).

Writer Roseanne Cash is seemingly on the brink of leaving Twitter and added: "It's getting harder to stay here."

A third wrote: "There's a lot to unpack here. Mocking LBGTQ+ community. Richest guy in world going all-in with MAGA folk. But mostly, it's about a kid who was bullied that didn't grow up to be against bullying but instead became one. What a small-time punk, this @elonmusk lad."

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