Footage of Elon Musk's son X Æ A-Xii speaking to President Donald Trump in the Oval Office has gone viral on social media.
Though many of the clips are indecipherable, users have claimed that the 4-year-old said, "You're not the president and you need to go away," and "Shut your mouth."
Newsweek contacted the White House and Musk, via the Tesla and SpaceX press offices, for comment by email outside regular office hours.
Why It Matters
Opponents of the new administration have criticized the influence Musk, an unelected official, has over the government and have called him "President Musk." Though his son's comments are hard to determine, if X made the alleged remarks, it could embolden the president's detractors in this line of criticism.
What To Know
On Thursday, Musk joined Trump in the White House with X Æ A-Xii, his son with the Canadian singer Grimes. Speaking to reporters, the tech billionaire denied that his Department of Government Efficiency had launched a "hostile takeover" of the government and said he wanted to add "common sense controls" to state spending.
On X, formerly Twitter—the social media platform the Musk owns—users @RightWingCope and @YourAnonNews, which have 432,900 and 7.6 million followers, respectively, shared a five-second clip of Musk addressing journalists while his son leaned toward the president and spoke.
According to @RightWingCope, X Æ A-Xii told Trump, "You're not the President and you need to go away," while @YourAnonNews quoted him as saying, "You're not the president you need to go away."
X Æ A-Xii's comment is almost impossible to decipher as he speaks softly and his father is speaking at the same time. Newsweek is unable to confidently transcribe X Æ A-Xii's comment.
X users have shared different clips of the boy turning toward Trump and speaking during the news conference, with several claiming he said, "I want you to shut your mouth."
Other users disagreed with that interpretation, with one commenting: "He told Mr. President he had to go pee ffs. Leave the kid out of it." Another wrote: "I have watched the video several times now... and I think he's actually talking to the reporters who are in the room, and not @realDonaldTrump."
According to The Daily Mail, Trump, Musk and X Æ A-Xii spent about 30 minutes with reporters in the Oval Office, and the president was "left mesmerized" by the child.
What People Are Saying
Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, commented on X about her son's presence at the news conference: "He should not be in public like this. I did not see this, thank u for alerting me. But I'm glad he was polite. Sigh."
Elon Musk said without evidence during the news conference: "We do find it sort of odd that, you know, there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position."
What Happens Next
As Musk pursues his goal of slashing federal government spending, critics are likely to continue trying to drive a wedge between him and the president by framing the tech billionaire as the nation's true leader. It remains to be seen whether these efforts will be successful.