Woman challenges people to do Musk's controversial 'salute' publicly in viral TikTok

A woman on TikTok called out people defending Elon Musk’s salute on inauguration day, telling them they should do the salute to “greet each other in public.”

On Jan. 20, 2025, Elon Musk gave a speech at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, at one point giving what many around the globe have called a Nazi-like salute, which is illegal in many countries, including Germany and Austria.

Supporters of Musk and Trump have denied the accusations and are defending the billionaire’s gesture, claiming that what he was doing is the “Roman salute,” a concept first found in the painting The Oath of the Horatii (1784), by Jacques-Louis David. Musk himself on X suggested controversy around the gesture was an example of “legacy media propaganda.”

Screenshot of a woman staring at the camera saying, 'do it when you guys greet each other in public.' — @katrinany/TikTok

Katrina (@katrinany) said in her viral TikTok video, which amassed over 5.6 million likes and over 70 thousand comments in two days: “To everyone defending Elon and what he did, I want you to do it. Do it. Post yourself on here doing it. Do it when you guys greet each other in public. Come on, have it be your thing. Own the libs, right? Prove to us that it wasn’t what we thought it was. Do it.”

@katrinany Own the libs guys #elon #salute #romansalute #inaugurationday ♬ original sound – Katrina

As noted by Rachel Richardson in her Highly Flammable Substack post, Jamie R. Collyer, a recruiter on LinkedIn, followed through on doing the salute, posting a video of herself doing the salute repeatedly and saying, “Stop hating on Elon. This whole nit picking thing isn’t professional or even mature. Not everything has an agenda. Not everyone is the enemy. Love the opportunity to take a break from work and chime in.”

A woman in a puffer jacket smiling for the camera with her hand to her heart. — Jamie R. Collyer/LinkedIn

A woman in a puffer jacket smiling for the camera with her hand raised in a salute. — Jamie R. Collyer/LinkedIn

People in the comments on her LinkedIn post were not impressed with her messaging and told her that it doesn’t matter what she claims it is, but what it looks like.

LinkedIn comment, text reads, 'German here. One who is is deeply aware of my nation's history and what utter horror our forefathers perpetrated. Only fractionally so, compared to the victims of the atrocities. I would heartily disagree to this being described as nitpicking. The slow erosion of norms around the topic of the holocaust and racist, xenophobic, antisemitic views is a precursor to deeper actions. It's precisely what happened in Germany TWICE, a slow and highly manipulated shift in sentiment acting as a precursor to a shift in society and government towards much darker events and extremism. As such avoid the Nazi/Roman salute in all situations, especially as a public figure on a national stage/platform (cannot believe that's even something that needs to be said(. Even if somehow unintentional, it lends energy, fuel, credence, and support to the very worst of society that seeks to divide us on national, religious, racial, gender, etc lines. btw with audio silenced by default on LinkedIn, all I see is someone doing the Nazi salute repeatedly. I am stunned you're a second connection of mine. I know you're posting this for the reaction and the comments, so I guess you're getting what you're wishing for. Hope it works out for you.'

LinkedIn comment, text reads, 'There's still time for you to delete this video of you doing the Sieg Heil salute before too many people see it.' — Joseph Arena/LinkedIn

LinkedIn comment, text reads, 'I was going to ignore this post and treat it with the contempt it deserved, but I remembered the quote from Edmund Burke that ‘all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing’, so I am adding my voice to the dissent around this post and the appalling hand gesture it seeks to defend.' — Joseph Arena/LinkedIn

LinkedIn comment, text reads, 'Ok so can I ask you a question? The salute, or anything resembling it, carries such profound and unimaginable horror for so many people. It’s tied to a history of genocide and oppression, and for many, it’s a reminder of unimaginable trauma. Why is it so important to you to defend this? Wouldn’t it be more compassionate to err on the side of humanity, knowing that this “gesture” you’re attempting to normalize could deeply hurt others? Especially doing it over and over? Is the need to be right more important than thinking about the harm this might cause to others? If a child saw this and now felt afraid of you, how would that make you feel?' — Emily Jeffords/LinkedIn

There are no texts from ancient Rome that describe a gesture like the one Musk did on live television, according to Classics professor Martin M. Winkler, who published a book on the history of the Roman Salute in 2009. The Roman-esque works of art, such as The Oath of the Horatii, only bear a passing resemblance to what people are now calling the “Roman salute.”

In a follow-up video response to someone claiming that Musk was doing the Roman salute, Katrina said, “Oh you’re experts in Roman history now, but you don’t know what a tariff is. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.”

“The Roman salute. Literally no one calls it that. And we don’t do that here in America. Especially in the year 2025. The Romans League—I had you guys tagging me in clips from the Gladiator. Multiple tags for the movie Gladiator. I need you all to understand that that is not a reputable MLA citation right there. That will not work in school. So call it the Roman salute. Call it Patty Cake. Whatever you want. You’re not gonna be doing that action in public. You won’t do it, okay? That was my point, ‘cause you know what it looks like and you know what it means.”

She also noted in her TikTok video that people have been infantilizing Elon Musk and claiming that “He’s just this silly little neurodivergent kid who got overstimulated on stage and that’s why he did what he did.”

“The menu items of excuses that I received from you guys is absolutely astounding, but let’s also talk about the fact that the people who wear the hoods really liked what he did. They really liked it. And they posted their videos and they sent me the messages saying that they like it and they don’t care. And this is what we’ve been telling you guys: address those people in your party and maybe we’ll take you seriously. But until then, this is just nonsense. It’s absolute nonsense,” she ended her video.

@katrinany Replying to @Ricia love 💋 ♬ original sound – Katrina

@katrinany did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via RedNote direct message. Jamie R. Collyerdid not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via LinkedIn direct message.

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‘To everyone defending Elon, I want you to do it’: Woman challenges people to do Musk’s controversial ‘salute’ publicly — and one woman does

‘You’re not gonna be doing that action in public. You won’t do it, okay?’

Anna Good