Elon Musk Vows to Rehire Fired DOGE 'Kid' Staffer Who Bragged About Being a 'Racist'

Elon Musk has announced that Marko Elez, a 25-year-old former DOGE employee who resigned after racist social media posts resurfaced, will be rehired.

"To err is human, to forgive divine," Musk tweeted on Friday, confirming Elez's return to the company. His post followed Vice President JD Vance's public defense of Elez, arguing that "stupid social media activity shouldn't ruin a kid's life."

Elez, who previously worked for SpaceX and Starlink, was identified as the owner of an X account (@nullllptr), which was deleted in December and contained posts advocating for eugenics and with openly racist rhetoric, including "Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool" and a statement expressing indifference to the destruction of both Gaza and Israel.

His resignation came after the Wall Street Journal uncovered and published the posts, though he was permitted by a court ruling to maintain restricted access to the Treasury Department's payment system.

Musk's decision comes amid legal and political pressure on his DOGE initiative, which faces accusations of leaking sensitive data into AI, multiple lawsuits and a legal block on accessing Labor Department records. The company is also under fire for its efforts to dismantle USAID, the world's largest humanitarian aid donor.

The move to reinstate Elez is likely to spark controversy, as critics of the tech billionaire have already accused him of supporting racist ideologies due to his support of Germany's far-right AfD party and an emphatic gesture resembling a Nazi salute repeated by Musk at President Donald Trump's inauguration.