Fact Check: Elon Musk Pulled Funding from Boy Scouts for Going 'Woke'?

Claim:

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk pulled $250 million in funding from Scouting America — formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America — because "they went woke."

Rating:

Originated as Satire ( About this rating? )

On May 11, 2024, the SpaceX Fanclub Facebook page published a photograph with a headline positing that Tesla Founder and X owner Elon Musk had pulled $250 million in funding from Scouting America — formerly known as Boy Scouts of America — because he disagreed with the group going "woke":

(screen capture)

The post had gained 3,100 reactions and 1,500 comments as of this writing. Many of the commenters approved of Musk's move. "Way to go patriot," one wrote. "He did the right thing," said another.

The pinned comment on the post linked to an article on Esspots.com , which read:

Breaking: Elon Musk Pulls $250 Million Funding From Boy Scouts, "They Went Woke"

Despite his notoriety for far-fetched ideas like space travel and electric cars, tech tycoon Elon Musk has lately been in the news for a choice that is more grounded in reality. Donations from prominent individuals have been crucial to the success of Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America. Musk had before promised the group $250 million to fund national scouting programmes. His announcement that he is rescinding the support came as a shock, but he justified it by saying the group has adopted what he terms "woke" values.

This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. Esspots.com describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:

Welcome to Esspots.com, a website that specializes in satire, parody, and humor. Before you proceed to read our content, we would like to emphasize that nothing on this website is real. All of the articles, stories, and commentary found on Esspots.com are entirely fictitious and created for the purpose of entertainment only.

Since Boy Scouts of America changed its name to Scouting America, we've reported on various satirical posts, including one involving actor Vin Diesel and another that claimed the Scouts' oath had changed to remove the word "God."

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.