Elon Musk has sparked controversy by calling for a permanent banned pride flags in the classroom

Fact Check: No evidence Musk said Pride flags should be banned in classrooms

A quote attributed to billionaire Elon Musk about permanently banning Pride flags from classrooms was published by a satirical website. There is no record of Musk making the remark.

Posts on social media, opens new tab shared a photo of Musk with text across the top of the image attributed to the Tesla and SpaceX founder that reads, “Pride flags should be banned from classrooms. Permanently!”

However, a search on Musk’s platform X did not yield any matching results, and the phrase does not appear in any company press releases. No reliable news outlet has quoted him as saying this.

Esspots, a website that describes itself as satirical, attributed the same phrase to Musk in a September 2024 headline, opens new tab.

Musk has criticized progressive views and policies, such as protections for transgender people, as a “woke mind virus” and blamed the mindset for his estrangement from one of his children.

In February 2024, he said on X, opens new tab: “Most people don’t realize how much the woke virus is poisoning the minds of their kids. Better to take them out of school than allow Soviet-level indoctrination to take place.”

Esspots, a website that describes itself as satirical, attributed the same phrase to Musk in a September 2024 headline, opens new tab.

Musk has criticized progressive views and policies, such as protections for transgender people, as a “woke mind virus” and blamed the mindset for his estrangement from one of his children.
In February 2024, he said on X, opens new tab: “Most people don’t realize how much the woke virus is poisoning the minds of their kids. Better to take them out of school than allow Soviet-level indoctrination to take place.”