Rumours rife that Banksy has created art of Musk’s ‘Nazi salute’ – but is it fake?

Users on X, formerly Twitter, are sharing photos of the painting reportedly created by Banksy which shows Elon Musk doing his controversial “Nazi salute”. A video of Musk doing the ‘salute’ during his speech at Trump’s inauguration went viral with the Tesla CEO receiving huge backlash and criticism for it.

Musk shocked many – including those watching at Washington DC’s Capital One Arena – when he put his hand on his chest, then stretched out his arm with an open hand. To many it appeared Musk had performed a fascist salute – familiar to most from their use by the Nazis in reverence to Adolf Hitler. Many interpreted it as resembling the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute.

Now, Banksy has reportedly created street art capturing the moment Musk made the ‘salute’. The painting also includes a little boy holding the world urinating on Musk.

One user wrote: “This might be a fake”. Another user posted the “original” picture on X, formerly Twitter, which shows Trump instead of Elon Musk. According to the user, the artist behind the street art is also not Banksy but instead a French artist.

Another user added that the “updated version is better“. The original painting mural is found in Lyon, France. It was previously misrepresented in posts online as the work of British street artist Banksy.

Art experts who have previously valuated and sold Banksy works said the painting was not the work of the street artist. Photographs of the mural, named “Time’s up – we take it back,” were first posted by a French artist who goes by the name “my_stencil” on Instagram in May 2020. In a direct message on Instagram, the artist said they had created and posted images of the artwork in Lyon that year.