CNN's 'Black Sheep' Scott Jennings Involved in MASSIVE Clash With Guest Over Elon Musk's 'Nazi Salute' Scandal
Scott Jennings defended Elon Musk in the heated argument.
Jan. 28 2025, Published 1:44 p.m. ET
CNN personality Scott Jennings found himself in a vicious back-and-forth battle with a guest on Monday.
The network's "black sheep" disagreed with Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell when it came to Elon Musk's bizarre straight-arm gesture which he did during Donald Trump's inauguration, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Jennings and columnist Catherine Rampell fought it out over Musk's 'Nazi salute.'
Jennings, the only conservative panelist on the CNN show NewsNight with Abby Phillip, was in Musk's corner, defending the controversial billionaire's arm movement.
Jennings went off: "We’ve moved on from Trump derangement syndrome to Elon derangement syndrome."
He continued: "Anybody who is asserting this thing he did on the stage the other day was a Sieg Heil, which I just heard you say, you know, lawyer up maybe because, absolute[ly] ridiculous thing to say."
Rampell, who is Jewish, hit back at Jennings, daring him to repeat Musk's gesture during the live segment if he was sure what the Tesla founder did was innocent.
"Why don’t you do it on TV right now? Why don’t you do it on TV right now if you think it’s so, so banal," she said.
Jennings responded: "This salute trutherism is outrageous. This is the biggest conspiracy theory."
"Do it right now on TV. If you think it’s normal, if you think it’s a normal way to greet people, do it right now on TV! Why won’t you?" Rampell once again said.
'This salute trutherism is outrageous, Jennings raged.
Earlier in the segment, Rampell explained what she said was Musk's history of anti-Jewish statements.
She said: "The first time that Elon Musk decides to declare that globalist Jews are responsible for the great replacement of brown people into the United States, maybe it was a misunderstanding, you know.
"The second time he said that Jews are pushing hatred against white people – that's a quote – that was a little iffy. By the second Sieg Heil, I think he kind of loses the benefit of the doubt to not be accused of playing footsies with these Nazis."
Musk caused a stir after showcasing a bizarre arm gesture on Donald Trump's inauguration.
"I'm not saying he's a Nazi, I'm saying the Nazis think he's a Nazi," the journalist added.
Despite Jennings' defense of Musk, plenty of right-wing extremists were left giddy following his questionable arm gesture.
Keith Woods, a white nationalist, praised at the time: “Maybe woke really is dead," and right-wing commentator Evan Kilgore also commented, "Did Elon Musk just Heil Hitler? We are so back."
A chapter of the white nationalist group White Lives Matter also wrote on Telegram: “The White Flame will rise again."
Meanwhile, sane users slammed Musk at the time, as one person said on X: "Stop making excuses for this Nazi piece of s---. The greatest generation fought to defeat the Nazis in WW II only to see them buy the government 78 years later."
Musk himself responded to the backlash on his social media platform and said: "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The “everyone is Hitler” attack is so tired."
The 53-year-old, however, had another defender in Jared Holt, a senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks online hate.
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
The billionaire slammed the Nazi allegations on X.
Holt suggested: "I’m skeptical it was on purpose. It would be an act of self-sabotage that wouldn’t really make much sense at all.”
