Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Elon Musk has shared a conspiracy theory about comedian Ellen DeGeneres’s decision to move to the United Kingdom with her wife.
The billionaire, who is set to head Donald Trump’s newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, shared a post on Thursday suggesting DeGeneres left the US “after the election” due to her past affiliation with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
Musk shared a post with a screenshot of a 2016 X, then Twitter, post from DeGeneres referencing Combs.
“’Happy birthday, P Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, or as I call him, Cuddle McSnugglestuff,” DeGeneres’s post read. “You don’t need to know why. @iamdiddy.”
The original poster shared the screenshot with the caption, “It makes sense why she fled the country after the election.” Musk then re-shared the post, captioning it with the eyebrow-raised emoji.
Combs was arrested in September on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. Federal prosecutors allege that Combs and his associates threatened, abused and coerced women and others around him “to fulfill his sexual desires” – which allegedly included forcing victims into engaging in recorded sexual activity which he referred to as “Freak Offs.”
Musk’s post comes after reports that DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi moved to the United Kingdom. While rumors have spread that the duo left due to Trump’s electoral victory, the couple actually purchased the Cotswolds house in October – well before Election Day.
An unnamed source with knowledge of their move toldThe Daily Mail this week that DeGeneres and Rossi planned to move leave before the election — but are glad to be getting away in the wake of Trump’s victory.
“As things panned out with Trump winning, she is glad she is making the move and going to be away from the US,” the source said.
The Independent has contacted DeGeneres’s representative for comment.
The billionaire’s post about DeGeneres came after a tiff with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on X.
“Just learned tonight at Mar-a-Lago that Jeff Bezos was telling everyone that @realDonaldTrump would lose for sure, so they should sell all their Tesla and SpaceX stock,” Musk posted early Thursday morning.
Bezos was quick to reply: “Nope. 100% not true.”
“Well, then, I stand corrected,” Musk responded, along with a laughing emoji.
Musk isn’t the first in Trump’s orbit to spread baseless claims about Combs.
Donald Trump Jr. previously peddled an unfounded conspiracy theory suggesting that Combs was arrested so celebrities who were affiliated with him would endorse his father’s opponent, Kamala Harris.
“We’re seeing unprecedented amounts of pay-for-play again,” Trump Jr. said earlier this month. “Again, none of this is organic. It’s a paid influencer operation. Know that. The celebrities who aren’t getting paid are getting probably paid in another way because they’re either on an Epstein list or a Diddy party list or both.”
Trump Jr. presented no concrete evidence to support this claim or to tie any celebrities to Combs. Further, many of the celebrities who endorsed Harris were signaling support for Biden and Democratic candidates long before Combs was arrested.
This post was originally published on here
