Germany brushes off Musk calling Scholz a fool [Video]

German officials on Friday brushed off tech billionaire Elon Musk labelling Olaf Scholz a “fool” on his social media platform X after the dramatic collapse of the chancellor’s coalition government.

In a comment Thursday above a post about the implosion of Scholz’s long-troubled coalition, the world’s richest man tweeted in German: “Olaf ist ein Narr” — “Olaf is a fool”.

Asked about Musk’s comment, government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann took a playful dig at the US tycoon, saying that “on X, you have Narrenfreiheit”, which translates to the freedom to act like a fool.

The word refers to revellers during Germany’s traditional carnival season, which starts next week, having the freedom to act without inhibitions.

Historically, the term echoes the notion of the “jester’s privilege” — the right of a court jester to mock those in power without being punished by the king.

Musk strongly supported US election winner Donald Trump, …