Dr. Anthony Fauci—the nation's leading expert on infectious diseases—said billionaire Elon Musk's attacks against him, which culminated in a recent transphobic tweet ridiculing the use of pronouns when Musk claimed his pronouns are "Prosecute/Fauci," amount to “merely a distraction.”
Fauci made the remark during an interview with CNN's David Axelrod, telling the commentator that Twitter—which has been riddled with scandals ever since Musk acquired the company in October—is little more than a "cesspool of interaction."
Fauci's comments prompted CNN anchor Erin Burnett to observe that Fauci's criticisms of Twitter as a social media platform are "pretty remarkable."
You can hear what Fauci said in the video below.
Hear Fauci's response to Elon Musk's attacksyoutu.be
Referring to Musk, Fauci said:
“I don’t respond to him."
“I don’t pay any attention to him because that’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, it doesn’t help anything."
Musk is among the chorus of right-wing figures who have called for the prosecution of Fauci for the way he handled the response to the COVID-19 pandemic even as these same right-wing figures undermined the pandemic response by sharing conspiracy theories about the virus and treatments that contributed to the United States' high COVID death toll.
Many have praised Fauci's response while criticizing Musk further.
Fauci has long been the target of derision from conservatives and members of the Republican Party. Emboldened by conspiracy theories that alleged Fauci was at least partially responsible for the reason COVID-19 spread around the world, many have called for violence against him.
The White House this week condemned Musk's tweet criticizing Fauci. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Musk's attacks are "disgusting" and "divorced from reality."
Over the summer, Fauci announced he is stepping down from his roles at the end of this year after a long career of advising seven U.S. Presidents on multiple infectious disease threats, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic, West Nile virus, bird flu and COVID-19.
