'Ax the itch': Elon Musk dig at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Met Gala dress renews Twitter feud

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elon Musk recently traded barbs on Twitter.

Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has repeatedly called for billionaires to pay more tax, and Elon Musk, currently the richest person in the world, have traded barbs in the past – and Tuesday saw the Tesla chief again taking a dig at AOC. This time, it was Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” dress from last year’s Met Gala that Musk aimed his jibe at.

Elon Musk’s tweet came a few hours after he was photographed at the Met Gala 2022 red carpet with his mother Maye Musk, and a few days after he factitiously told the US lawmaker to stop “hitting” on him as she slammed a "billionaire with an ego problem" without taking names.

Their latest Twitter spat started with a video of Elon Musk making funny faces at the Met Gala 2022 red carpet on Monday night. Shibetoshi Nakamoto, the creator of meme currency Dogecoin, responded with a picture of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from last year’s Met Gala. The Democratic congresswoman from New York had attended ‘the party of the year’ in a white gown with “Tax the Rich” emblazoned across the back in red.

“I am imagining what would happen if you wore this dress to the gala for my own mental amusement,” Nakamoto wrote, addressing Musk while sharing a pic of AOC’s controversial dress. The Tesla chief responded by saying he could not read the full slogan.

“Can only read one side. Looks like ‘ax the itch’?” he asked.

Can only read one side. Looks like “ax the itch”?

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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022

“Stop hitting on me, I’m really shy,” Elon Musk wrote in response to Ocasio-Cortez’s scathing tweet in which she slammed a “billionaire with an ego problem” who “unilaterally controls a massive communication platform and skews it.”

Social media users assumed she was referring to Musk, who recently acquired Twitter, but AOC, as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is also known, replied that she was talking about Zuckerberg before deleting the tweet. When a Twitter user shared a screenshot of the conversation, she responded: “Like I said, ego problems.”

like I said, ego problems https://t.co/IpyCkMadP8

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 30, 2022

Asked why she deleted her “epic” clapback, AOC said: “I try to avoid giving people with massive ego complexes like this the attention and QTs/replies they crave and are seeking (when I can help it).”