Royal Society to debate throwing out Elon Musk

Elon Musk is at risk of losing his prestigious fellowship of the UK’s Royal Society, The New World can reveal, in the wake of his decision to address Tommy Robinson’s far-right rally in London last weekend.

The Royal Society, which is generally apolitical, is one of the world’s most prestigious national academies, as well as the world’s oldest – it was founded by King Charles II in 1660.

Elon Musk was elected as a fellow of the society in 2018 in recognition of the achievements of his companies in the fields of space and electric vehicle engineering. However, in recent months the society has come under mounting public pressure, including from its own fellows, to rescind his membership owing to his increasingly hateful and radical politics.

Now, the leadership of the society are going to formally discuss his status at a meeting on 1 October, according to an email sent to fellows by the society’s president, Sir Adrian Smith.

“You will all be aware that political polarisation and its accompanying rhetoric are increasing in Western democracies,” his email begins. “I am sure that many of you will share my concern at the events of the last week and the growing tendency to resort to the language of violence in pursuit of political programmes that are founded upon narratives of division and simplistic stereotypes of political opponents – including, unfortunately, an address to the recent London rally from a Fellow of the Royal Society.”

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Smith’s email continues with a veiled rebuke to Musk, without ever mentioning him by name: “Most of us have had the good fortune to have lived our lives in contexts where core values of tolerance, courtesy, respect for others, and freedom of speech have been widely acknowledged and respected and we have come to take them for granted. It is no accident that human understanding and science have also flourished to an extraordinary extent in this period. Threats to those values are now real.

“We will discuss these issues at the Royal Society Council meeting on 1 October.”

Revocation of Musk’s fellowship would do little in practice to impact the multi-billionaire, but it would strip him of one of his most prestigious awards, and one he proudly accepted at the time. The New World contacted the Royal Society for comment on the email, to which they responded: “no further comment at the moment.”