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Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance have confirmed they plan to rehire a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) worker who resigned after his racist social media posts were publicized by the Wall Street Journal.
According to the Joural, Marko Elez, 25, used a now-deactivated X account to post a series of racist messages in September 2024.
The posts included comments such as “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool”; “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity”; and “Normalize Indian hate.”
While it is not clear if Elez will return to his role in DOGE, Musk gave his blessing for the staffer’s reinstatement. “He will be brought back,” he wrote in a post on X.
Polls over policy? DOGE staffer who resigned over racist posts to be reinstated
Elez stepped down from his role on Thursday, February 7, after the Wall Street Journal brought the matter to the attention of the White House. But by Friday, Musk moved quickly to confirm plans to reinstate the worker.
The co-chair of the newly formed DOGE abandoned any pre-existing semblance of HR policy, taking to X to ask his followers if the “staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now-deleted pseudonym” should be rehired. Over 385,000 people users took part in the poll, with over two-thirds of respondents voting ‘yes.’
Vice President JD Vance waded in on the matter, supporting the decision to reinstate Elez.
Although the racist comments were made less than six months ago, he indicated that the posts were a mistake that should not damage the worker’s long-term career prospects.
In a post replying to the poll, he wrote: “Here’s my view: I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life. We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back. If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.”
Musk: ‘To err is human, to forgive divine’
Musk responded to Vance’s post, writing: “He will be brought back. To err is human, to forgive divine,” alongside a salute emoji. He previously employed Elez at SpaceX, Starlink, and X.
The chair of DOGE did not confirm when Elez will return to his post, nor whether he will keep his previous responsibilities.
According to the Washington Post, the 25-year-old was one of two staffers permitted by a federal court to access treasury department records. A federal judge blocked a controversial attempt by Musk’s DOGE team to gain full access to the department’s central payments system on Saturday, claiming they “explicitly sought this unauthorized access to illegally block payments that millions of Americans rely on.”
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Earlier, on Thursday, a District Court judge ruled Elez should be allowed to have access to the treasury payment systems, but found that he should not have the ability to share any data he uncovered. Elez resigned over the racist posts later that day.
Meanwhile, DOGE has also come under scrutiny for the social media activity of other staffers. A report from Forbes uncovered deleted X posts shared by Gavin Kliger, 24, another employee in the department, including one that called Hillary Clinton a slur.
Kliger is playing a pivotal role in the dismantling of USAID, the government agency responsible for international development and funding for foreign humanitarian causes, sending staff an email on Monday that told them not to come into the building the next day.
The staffer also reposted content from Nick Fuentes, a nationalist known for sharing white supremacist and antisemitic views.
The issue of worker social media behaviour is a complicated matter for employers to navigate, particularly as the lines between personal and professional lives become increasngly blurred.
Although some HR professionals do support the need for education and forgiveness where racism, sexism, or xenophobia is uncovered on the social media profiles of employees, the recency and intensity of Elez's comments will leave others questioning whether the decision to reinstate him to his role is appropriate or advisable; and whether the public handling of a typically private HR process is the correct way to deal with such sensitive investigations.
