An image of a woman sitting with a child on a sofa, while a woman of African descent sitting on the floor, is going viral, with several users claiming that it shows a childhood image of tech mogul and owner of X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk.
What have users said?: People shared the image with a caption that said, "This is Elon musk and his parent. They had a black women helper. Who was not allowed to seat on their sofas. Who was not allowed to ask any questions. Elon musk is a racist white man like his parents (sic)."
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
The image dates back to 1988 and shows a woman, her daughter, and their domestic help in South Africa's Johannesburg.
Musk was born in 1971 and was almost 17 years old when the image was taken. The image was clicked by American photographer Rosalind Fox Solomon.
While we could not identify the people seen in the image, it is clear that it does not show Musk in his childhood.
How did we find out?: We performed a Google Lens search on the viral image and came across the website of the National Gallery of Art in United States.
The website carried the same image in monochrome and was titled, "Mother, Daughter and Maid, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1988, printed 1993."
Rosalind Solomon, an American photographer, captured the image.
The image was clicked in 1988.
(Source: National Gallery of Art/Screenshot)
The same image can also be uploaded on the Harvard Art Museums website.
An article published in Vulture that talked about Solomon's different works across the year also featured this picture. It corroborated the details that the image dates back to 1988.
The article was published on 28 October 2021.
(Source: Vulture/Screenshot)
Other sources: The British Journal of Photography, while talking about Solomon's work, said that she captions many of her monochrome images with city, country, and year.
It further said, "Some image-caption pairings speak for themselves: in Johannesburg, South Africa,1988, a Black housekeeper kneels on the floor next to a smiling white mother and daughter, who are both sitting in an armchair; in Auschwitz, Poland, 2003 dozens of prosthetic legs lie discarded in a pile."
We found a video of the photographer on the YouTube channel named 'Yale School of Art'.
It was uploaded on 25 September 2020 and was titled "Rosalind Fox Solomon: "The Trajectory of My Life and Work."
At around the 32:37 timestamp, one could see the photographer's work in South Africa between 1988-1990, which also featured the viral photo.
Musk was in his teens in 1988: While the image's caption makes it clear that the image shows a girl, it should be highlighted that Musk was almost 17 years old during 1998.
We searched for Musk's childhood pictures and came across an article published in Observer.
It was headlined, "Becoming Elon Musk: 10 Rare Old Photos Uncovered in His Mom’s Book."
We found an image of Musk from 1989, where he could be seen celebrating his 18th birthday.
The article was published in January 2020.
(Source: Observer/Screenshot)
Why is the claim being shared?: According a report published in Barron's, the claim comes amid a clash between Musk and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malema over a controversial song.
While Musk criticised the EFF over the song, Malema soon hit back and called Musk an "illiterate". You can read the full story here.
Conclusion: While we could not identify the people seen in the photo, it is clear it shows a girl in South Africa and not Elon Musk as claimed.
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