Elon Musk has been accused of spreading ‘misinformation’ on social media after responding to false claims about Netflix’s new crime-drama series Adolescence.
On March 20, Ian Miles-Cheong, a right-wing journalist and writer from Malaysia, took to social media to discuss Adolescence, a story created by This Is England’s Stephen Graham and Enola Holmes writer Jack Thorne.
The four-part programme, starring Graham and newcomer Owen Cooper, is inspired by a series of real-life stories of young boys brutally and fatally attacking girls.
“It shocked me. I was thinking, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening in society where a boy stabs a girl to death? What’s the inciting incident here?’,” Graham told Netflix’s Tudum.
“And then it happened again, and it happened again, and it happened again. I really just wanted to shine a light on it, and ask, ‘Why is this happening today? What’s going on? How have we come to this?’
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“We could have made a drama about gangs and knife crime, or about a kid whose mother is an alcoholic or whose father is a violent abuser,” he continued. “Instead, we wanted you to look at this family and think, ‘My God. This could be happening to us,’ and what’s happening here is an ordinary family’s worst nightmare.’”
According to television-watching figures, a staggering 24.3 million US dwellers have already watched Adolescence, with some dubbing it the 'best drama' on the streaming service.
Thousands have also taken to social media to have their say, including Miles-Cheong, who has issued false claims ‘blasting’ the Netflix programme.
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He has insinuated that Adolescence was based on the tragic 2024 Southport attack, where Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls.
“Netflix has a show called Adolescence that’s about a British knife killer who stabbed a girl to death on a bus and it’s based on real-life cases such as the Southport murderer,” he falsely said.
“So guess what. They race swapped the actual killer from a black man/migrant to a white boy and the story has it so he was radicalized online by the red pill movement.
“Just the absolute state of anti-white propaganda,” he added.
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As Graham has already stated, Adolescence is based on various incidents of violence, not the Southport attack, and it is not focused on knife crime.
Instead, the four-part series is centralized on Incel culture and the dangers of the internet.
Musk has since been slammed for his 'concerning' involvement in spreading misinformation by replying to Miles-Cheong’s false post by writing: “Wow”.
The one-word response has been seen over 308,000 times, and has collected 12,000 likes and over 300 comments.
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“Musk, Given that you have quite a lot of influence, do you think the responsible thing to do would be to check the accuracy of other people's statements before drawing attention to them?,” someone responded.
A second commented: “Spreading misinformation, again.”
“Hoping your ‘Wow’ is in response to this complete misinformation on your platform?,” a third typed.
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Another commented: “He is incorrect, it's not about stabbing on a bus and no race has been changed.”
A fifth said it was ‘concerning’ while a sixth branded Musk's social media site, Twitter, as a 'hell site’.
UNILAD has contacted Elon Musk’s representatives for further comment.
Topics: Elon Musk, Adolescence, Netflix, Film and TV, Entertainment, Crime, True crime
Ella Scott