Elon Musk slammed for 'forgetting he had his son with him' in viral video - users say 'lack of paternal instinct' is 'concerning'

The clip, which has since gone viral, shows the Tesla billionaire exiting the stage at what is thought to be at a MAGA rally in January. He is seen walking down a metal staircase his son X trailing behind.

The youngster, who often attends events with Musk, appears to wobble as he holds the handrail and descends down the steps, no adult accompanying him. X even waved at the adoring crowd as he followed after his father.

However, Musk walks towards the crowd, without X nearby. The video then flashes back to the stage with the four-year-old nowhere to be seen. It is unclear what Musk did in the seconds after the camera stopped rolling, but social media users were still quick to judge.

One user wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “The lack of paternal instinct is concerning”. Another said: “Man, parents are always looking back when their kids are behind them. However, if your toddler kid is walking down a flight of unfamiliar and metal stairs and you aren’t next to him, I don’t know what to say.”

A third added: “This is really, really, really unnatural.“ The fresh wave of online criticism comes just days after Grimes, Musks’ ex, has publicly called on her former partner to urgently respond to her after she claimed he failed to communicate with her about their child's "medical crisis."

The Canadian musician - born Claire Boucher - is mother to three of Musk's children. In a tweet published on X, which appears to have since been deleted, Grimes wrote: "Plz respond about our child's medical crisis. I am sorry to do this publicly but it is no longer acceptable to ignore this situation. This requires immediate attention.

"If you don't want to talk to me can you please designate or hire someone who can so that we can move forward on solving this. This is urgent, Elon."

After one social media user questioned Grimes's decision to go public with her plea, she responded: "I'm not giving any details but he won't respond to texts call or emails and has skipped every meeting and our child will suffer life long impairment if he doesn't respond asap, so I need him to f***ing respond and if I have to apply public pressure then I guess that's where we are at.”