'He wants WAGA, not MAGA': Vinod Khosla urges Tesla, SpaceX employees to resign over Musk racism row

Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla has urged employees of Elon Musk-led companies to resign, escalating a sharp public dispute over race, politics and culture in Silicon Valley.

Khosla’s comments followed remarks by Musk on X stating that white people are becoming a “rapidly diminishing minority” globally, a post that drew widespread debate online.

White people are a rapidly diminishing minority of global population https://t.co/34ZWgTQ96q

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2025

In a viral response on X (formerly Twitter), Khosla accused Musk of promoting a racially exclusionary ideology and framed it as a distortion of US President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

“@.elonmusk doesn’t want MAGA, he wants WAGA — ‘white America great again,’” Khosla wrote, describing it as a paradigm in which racism is portrayed as “great and desirable.”

He went on to call on “all non-whites… and all decent whites” working at Tesla, SpaceX and X to quit their jobs and send their LinkedIn profiles to Khosla Ventures.

.@elonmusk doesn't want MAGA, he wants WAGA or "white America great again" as a racism is great and desirable" paradigm. All non-whites in @tesla, @SpaceX@X etc and all decent whites should quit and join our portfolio. Email us your linkedin! https://t.co/NmbM19AnnC

— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) January 27, 2026

Musk responded forcefully, dismissing Khosla’s remarks and attacking him personally. In reply to his post, Musk called Khosla “pompous” and rejected allegations of racism, noting that his partner, Shivon Zilis, is half Indian and that his eldest son with her is named in honor of Indian physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

“Vinod, you’re not just such a pompous asshole that you tried to stop the public from using a public beach near your house, you’ve also gone full retard. My partner, Shivon, is half Indian and my eldest son with her is named in honor of the great Indian physicist Chandrasekhar,”  Musk replied.

Vinod, you’re not just such a pompous asshole that you tried to stop the public from using a public beach near your house, you’ve also gone full retard.

My partner, Shivon, is half Indian and my eldest son with her is named in honor of the great Indian physicist Chandrasekhar.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2026