Joy Reid accuses Elon Musk of 'misappropriating Black vernacular for misogynistic purposes'

Elon Musk was named Time’s Person of the Year for 2021, which reignited the debate over the amount of federal taxes the Tesla’ chief has paid over the past decade

MSNBC host Joy Reid has blasted Elon Musk for what she described as “misappropriating black vernacular” language in a critical tweet aimed at Senator Elizabeth Warren.

The Telsa and Space X chief was responding to comments made by Ms Warren earlier this week, who suggested that Mr Musk didn't deserve his selection as Time’s person of the year, as he hadn't paid enough taxes in 2021.

The executive has gained something of a reputation for hitting back at critics, and in typical fashion, he lashed out at the Massachusetts lawmaker in a now-viral post.

“Please don't call the manager on me, Senator Karen”, Mr Musk’s wrote. The ‘Karen’ trope in question, often used as a term of derision for middle-aged white women, has been identified as misogynistic by some critics – such as Ms Reid.

During her MSNBC show earlier this week, the broadcaster described Mr Musk as “the absolute worst.”

“Elon [Musk] wasn't happy, so he did what he always does. He stomped his little feet and he insulted Senator Warren, calling her an ‘angry mom’, and referring to her as Senator Karen.”

She added that Mr Musk is a “freeloader...a selfish and disrespectful one”, who was “misappropriating Black vernacular for misogynistic purposes” when using the controversial “Karen” label.

As the BBC explains, the origin of the word relates to a person who weaponises their “relative privilege against a person of colour”, such as we have seen in many recent viral videos.

The billionaire once again took to Twitter after seeing Ms Reid’s segment on him, accusing the TV personality of being “a lobbyist for Sen Karen [Warren].”

Senator Warren has been highly critical of the South African billionaire (REUTERS)

Mr Musk has attracted backlash from many figures on the political left for his business practices, having heavily utilised government subsidies in the early days of his time at Tesla and Space X.

By contrast, he's paid very little back into the system by way of taxation. As per Insider, Mr Musk paid $455 million in federal income taxes between 2014 and 2018, while his wealth grew to $13.9 billion. He also paid no federal income taxes in the year of 2018.

The 50-year-old has since claimed that he is due to pay “more taxes than any American in history” this year, following a successful 1-month period for Tesla.