Elon Musk’s Obsession With the New Armie Hammer Movie Isn’t That Surprising

Elon Musk is pushing Citizen Vigilante and it’s the most predictable nonsense we’ve seen this week.  

All over social media for the past couple of weeks, the world’s first trillionaire decided to place himself at the center of the debate around Uwe Boll’s new movie. The results are unsurprising and that’s being charitable. 

Citizen Vigilante It’s the latest conservative rallying cry at the box office. Well, in this case, at the streaming box office? This film couldn’t really get into theaters considering the objectionable content at its core.

You should remember that Citizen Vigilante got banned in Germany over fears about inciting violence against migrants. And, judging by the mentions of the movie in different corners of social media, maybe that concern is correctly placed!

Still, Musk is making a point of really throwing his weight behind the controversial film. And, we do mean both posting about it a ton and actively tipping the conversation towards Citizen Vigilante in his corner of the Internet.

This is a man who absolutely has shared views critical of immigrants in the past. (At least the individuals that don’t work for him!) Musk makes no secret of his prejudices against a plethora of groups. But, things do tend to get a bit more nasty when he takes aim at racial minorities.

Pajiba reports that the SpaceX frontman made Citizen Vigilante free on X for 48 hours. That’s plenty of time to get those impressions up. And, in this age of social media and the Internet, things can get hairy when folks look at raw data.

Still, this is just the latest stunt from a man who has made it his mission to bend the United States of America and the world larger-writ to his ping-ponging whims. Sometimes it works, and other times, it makes people literally despise him.

Why Are We Wasting Breath on Citizen Vigilante?

The easiest way to explain this entire ordeal is that social media has largely morphed into a megaphone for far-right influencers and content creators. Especially, the social media platform that Musk owns directly.

He can put his finger on the scale to make just about anything a trending topic. Once that’s out of the way, the swarm of followers he has on the platform will make sure whatever they’re angry about is everyone’s problem now.

It probably doesn’t help Citizen Vigilante that the director of the film is a character in his own right. The filmmaker has basically been bashing other projects and arguing that he’s been persecuted for his “art.”Uwe Boll tried to argue this in The Daily Telegraph.

“The rating system refused to give us a rating [in Germany], so now you can only watch it if you bring in a Blu-ray from Austria or Switzerland,” Boll moaned to the press. “And I think they did that on purpose. It was a deliberate censorship decision. I hired a lawyer to complain about it, but we lost in a six-two vote as I was told that the film was inciting violence against migrants.” 

Anyone who was around for the early 2000s knows that this director was a controversy magnet. A prototypical troll, if you will! He was challenging people to boxing matches, taking personal shots and more.

But, it begs the question, could Citizen Vigilante stand on its own two feet without the spectacle of being a big “anti-woke” movie in 2026? Well, that and being effectively free on social media. 

Whatever the case, Elon Musk is driving this conversation. Well, at least until there’s some other controversy around race for him to scare up money with.

(featured image: Quiver Distribution)

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