In a cross-over event that we’re unsure anyone wanted, Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson are back within the headlines again.
The world’s richest man is seemingly footing the legal bill for Robinson as he goes on trial, accused of refusing to offer police his phone PIN when stopped under counter-terrorism laws.
An officer stopped Robinson while he was driving through the Channel Tunnel train terminal in a silver Bentley belonging to a friend.
He told the officer he was on his approach to Benidorm, a Spanish resort town, but they became suspicious of his ‘vague replies’ to questioning.
The far-right agitator, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, refused handy the officer his mobile since it had ‘journalistic material on it’ in July 2024, a court has heard.
Robinson, who denies failing to comply with the counter-terrorism powers, said in a video recorded before he entered court today: ‘Thankfully, I haven’t needed to beg for donations today because Elon Musk has picked up the legal bill for this absolute state persecution.’
While their pairing might sound odd to outside viewers, it’s not the primary time that the American billionaire has been linked with the previous leader of the English Defence League, nevertheless.
How long have they known one another for?
One in all the pair’s first public interactions was in November 2023, a 12 months after Musk took over X, then called Twitter.
Robinson was banned from the social media platform in 2018 for ‘hateful conduct’, having been accused of posting Islamophobic content.
Returning to the positioning, Robinson thanked Musk for reinstating his account.
‘I’ve been censored, attacked, slandered and imprisoned for shining a lightweight on uncomfortable truths that our government wish to cover, the general public at the moment are aware I used to be telling the reality,’ he wrote. ‘We have now lots to do.’
Handing Robinson his X account back significantly boosted his profile and helped spread far-right ideology, in accordance with hate speech monitoring groups.
By August the next 12 months, the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla boss began to amplify Robinson’s posts amid fears that misinformation had ignited anti-immigration riots within the UK.
In January this 12 months, Musk did something that, on the time, was his favourite hobby – he had an opinion on British politics.
In a post, he wrote: ‘Why is Tommy Robinson in a solitary confinement prison for telling the reality?’
‘Free Tommy Robinson!’ he posted on X the next day.
Then three days later, he said: ‘Once more: FREE TOMMY ROBINSON NOW.’
On the time, Robinson was in prison after being convicted of defying a court order by repeating false claims a couple of teenage Syrian refugee who had sued him for libel.
Musk pinned a post calling for Robinson’s release at the highest of his account, which had greater than 210million followers, while reposting multiple calls for his release.
Robinson later thanked Musk once more when he was released from prison in May after a judge granted him early release partway through his 18-month sentence.
Speaking outside the prison, Robinson told supporters during a live broadcast: ‘I actually have to say a thanks to Elon Musk, because without X, if we didn’t have X, everyone would just think I lied.
‘Nobody would have gotten every other narrative.’
But Musk’s fawning of Robinson made one particular person feel like a little bit of a 3rd wheel – Nigel Farage.
Farage, one other key figure in Britain’s far-right movement, has long had his anti-immigrant views boosted by Musk, all while making pilgrimages from Clacton, Essex, to Donald Trump’s estate in Mar-a-Lago.
On the identical day Musk first questioned Robinson’s jail sentence, he posted on X that ‘only Reform can save Britain’, referring to Farage’s political party.
But unlike Musk, the Clacton-on-Sea MP refused to call for the discharge of Robinson, saying at a conference in January: ‘I never wanted Tommy Robinson to hitch UKIP, I don’t want him to hitch Reform UK, and he won’t be.’
Then, in an abrupt post on X, Musk said: ‘The Reform Party needs a brand new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.’
The tech mogul has since distanced himself from Farage, who has, within the months since, surged within the polls – while Robinson’s support amongst Britons only increased barely.
Have Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson ever met?
While Musk and Robinson had posted about each other, they seemingly haven’t met in person. At the least, publicly.
But Musk did make an appearance at one in every of Robinson’s nationalist protests last month – type of.
He appeared via video uplink on the London rally that ended with 26 law enforcement officials injured, telling a crowd of flag-waving protesters that ‘violence is coming’ and ‘you either fight back otherwise you die’.
The comments were roundly criticised by politicians, including Farage, who asked for the billionaire to make clear what he meant by ‘fight’.
Is Musk really paying his legal fees?
Musk has not publicly confirmed he’s paying for Robinson’s defence.
Elon Musk has been approached for comment.
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