Elon Musk Declaring British Folks ‘Hobbits’ Sparks Backlash

[ad_1] Elon Musk has sparked backlash following remarks he made the place he described British individuals as ‘Hobbits,’ and shared misinformation about violence within the nation.

Newsweek has contacted X’s press division through e-mail for remark.

Why It Issues By 2024 and 2025, anti-immigration and Islamophobic sentiment has risen in Britain, and the nation has witnessed vital violence, partly in relation to anti-immigration marches, demonstrations and riots.

In 2024, police in the UK warned that violence towards girls in England and Wales had reached "epidemic" ranges.

Musk was a pivotal participant within the 2024 U.S. election, spending a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to get Donald Trump elected. The SpaceX founder now seems to have set his sights throughout the Atlantic on Europe and the U.Okay., prompting accusations of tried election affect in Germany.

His feedback about Hobbits are the newest in a sequence of remarks he has made on social media about Britain, with critics throughout the political spectrum accusing him of stirring up hatred and inciting violence.

<img id="10990376" alt="" caption="L: A man holds up a cardboard cutout of Tesla owner Elon Musk during a protest against the State Visit of US President Donald Trump on September 17, 2025 in London England. R: Tesla CEO Elon Musk listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC." captionoverride="L: A man holds up a cardboard cutout of Tesla owner Elon Musk during a protest against the State Visit of U.S. President Donald Trump on September 17, 2025 in London, England. R: Tesla CEO Elon Musk listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC." src="Leon Neal/Getty Images/Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="3000" height="2000" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/32-Split-Screen-82.png?w=640&quality=75&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/32-Split-Screen-82.png?w=750&quality=75&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/32-Split-Screen-82.png?w=1000&quality=75&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/32-Split-Screen-82.png?w=1200&quality=75&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/32-Split-Screen-82.png?w=1360&quality=75&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/32-Split-Screen-82.png?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/32-Split-Screen-82.png?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1"/> What To Know "Beautiful small cities in England, Scotland, Eire, they’ve been like, dwelling their lives quietly. They’re like Hobbits, frankly," Musk mentioned, throughout an look on Joe Rogan's podcast, in a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Folks within the U.Okay. have flocked to social media to reject this characterization. However past this, they've shared issues in regards to the misinformation shared by Musk throughout the podcast episode.

Musk says, "At some point, 1,000 individuals present up in your village of 500, I don’t know the place. And begin raping the youngsters. This has now occurred; God is aware of what number of instances in Britain."

There aren't any credible sources, proof, or documented instances of this occurring in Britain.

Podcaster Alasdair Campbell, identified for as soon as being the press secretary to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, shared the clip of Musk on X and wrote, "He's sick. And harmful."

Migration debate

Anti-immigration sentiment has been on the rise within the U.Okay. and is one thing that folks have shared issues about on-line.

An October ballot from YouGov, commissioned by the marketing campaign group Greatest for Britain, discovered that 26 % of individuals mentioned immigration and asylum was one of many three most necessary points going through their nation.

Protests and demonstrations linked to immigration, although, usually descend into dysfunction and violence.

Musk has been criticized for weighing in on these protests, and for his help for far-right activist Tommy Robinson, actual identify Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, on whose march final month he delivered a speech through video hyperlink.

Yaxley-Lennon has a prolonged felony historical past and has served 5 jail phrases between 2005 and 2025. In 2013, he illegally entered the USA utilizing a pal’s passport.

Violence towards girls

A problem pertaining to sexual violence within the U.Okay. that has made its approach into worldwide information, thanks partly to Musk himself repeatedly posting about it, is a scandal in Britain involving the sexual exploitation of underage women.

The scandal was first uncovered greater than 20 years in the past, in 2003, however has been the topic of debate and inquiry within the twenty years which have adopted.

It facilities on high-profile instances the place teams of males, predominantly of Pakistani descent, have been convicted of the sexual abuse and rape of predominantly younger white women, in cities together with Rotherham and Rochdale within the North of England.

A full nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs in England and Wales was introduced by the U.Okay.’s Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, in June 2025, after perceived slowness by authorities in implementing the suggestions of earlier inquiries.

In a report launched in 2024 by the Nationwide Police Chiefs’ Council, police estimated that one in each 12 girls can be a sufferer of violence towards girls yearly.

Statistics from the nonprofit Rape Disaster for England and Wales present that 1 in 4 girls have been raped or sexually assaulted for the reason that age of 16. Rape Disaster additionally reported that there have been 71,227 rapes recorded by police in 2024. By the tip of 2024, expenses had been introduced in 2.7 % of those instances, with conviction charges probably being decrease nonetheless. The vast majority of sexual violence survivors (5 in 6) in England and Wales don’t report it to the police.

In England and Wales, 1 in 2 rapes towards girls are carried out by their associate or ex-partner, and 6 in 7 rapes towards girls are carried out by somebody they know.

What Folks Are Saying Dara O Briain, an Irish comic, wrote on X: "That is genuinely insane. I imply, simply worryingly divorced from any actuality. How determined are individuals to imagine this nonsense?"

Elon Musk, in a submit on X, the platform he owns: "When Tolkien wrote in regards to the hobbits, he was referring to the gentlefolk of the English shires, who don’t understand the horrors that happen far-off. They have been capable of dwell their lives in peace and tranquility, however solely as a result of they have been protected by the exhausting males of Gondor. What occurred to the great man who was brutally murdered whereas strolling his canine will occur to all of England if the tide of unlawful immigration shouldn't be turned. It's time for the English to ally with the exhausting males, like Tommy Robinson, and struggle for his or her survival or they shall absolutely all perish."

Liz Webster, founding father of Save British Farming, a company that represents British farmers in a submit on X seen 6.5 million instances: "I really dwell in a small English village. It’s complete codswallop what @elonmusk is saying. We’re not "hobbits below siege" we’re peculiar individuals—how impolite to patronise us like this. It’s fear-mongering dressed up as folklore."

Social media person @esjesjesj in a submit on X seen over 40,000 instances: "In addition to how disgustingly off placing his persona is, that is such an childish evaluation. 'English individuals are just like the naive race within the fantasy sequence I like.' He’s simply not near a severe thinker, which is why he finds Joe Rogan stimulating."