The Academy Awards or the Oscars 2025, as they are popularly known, were held in Los Angeles on March 2 (March 3 in India).

While the awards, seen as the ultimate summit in the world of motion picture artform, is also a platform to share a message of inclusion and accommodation.

Elon Musk on Oscars

Diversity has been one of the key elements of the 'affirmative action' focused by the Academy that conducts these awards.

Elon Musk, the head of Tesla, SpaceX, X and now the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE has taken issues with the same.

In a post on X, Musk reacted to a purported rulebook for Academy Awards.

The qualifying rules claimed that the Academy's official "Representation and Inclusion Standards" require Best Picture contenders to meet specific diversity requirements.

Films must include underrepresented racial/ethnic groups in lead roles or have 30 per cent of the general cast from at least two "underrepresented groups."

Even storylines must center on "underrepresented groups" like women, racial minorities, LGBTQ+, or people with disabilities to qualify."

Reacting to this, Musk said, "This is messed up. Should just be who is best, not best with an asterisk!"

The Tirade Against DEI

These comments are in line with Elon Musk and the current administration under Donald Trump's ideology. The US administration, which took oath in February, has been on a rampage against DEI, or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, proceedings at workspaces.

Elon Musk shares an estranged relationship with his trans daughter Vivian Wilson.

The Trump administration has stopped DEI hirings in many US federal departments, apart from jeopardising others who are already a part of the workforce.

The Trump administration has actively advocated against inclusionary principles. In fact, in one of his first executive orders, Trump went back years changing the official genders in the US to two, abdicating the third gender.