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| - In mid-November 2024, as President-elect Donald Trump's friendship with X CEO and billionaire Elon Musk came under scrutiny, a video went viral claiming Musk was discriminated against at a coffee shop.
Shared by the YouTube account HARMONIZED, the video claimed Musk was refused service at a coffee shop because he wore a Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat, referencing Trump's campaign slogan. With the title, "Elon Musk Refused Service Because Of Hat. Next Day He Returns & Does THIS!" the video had over 2 million views as of this writing.
A voiceover in the video describes a scene between Musk and a coffee barista at "The Progressive Bean," a coffee shop in downtown San Francisco "known for its artisanal coffee and tech-friendly atmosphere" and "a symbol of the city's unique blend of innovation and social consciousness."
The voiceover described how the barista purportedly refused to serve Musk:
"I'm sorry sir but we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone," the barista stated firmly her arms crossed. Her name tag read "Tara" and she'd been working at the cafe for 3 years, proud of its reputation for being on the cutting edge of both coffee culture and social justice. The tall man in front of her wore a simple black hat, jeans and a plain black T-shirt with a jacket on it. Nothing about his appearance seemed particularly remarkable save for the MAGA logo on his hat that had apparently caused such offense. The other customers began to notice the commotion, some pulling out their phones to record what was happening. The morning sun streamed through the cafe's large windows, highlighting the growing tension in the air. The man remained surprisingly calm, speaking in a soft South African accent that a few people in line found oddly familiar. A group of tech workers from a nearby startup exchanged knowing glances but remained silent.
"I don't understand," he said quietly, his fingers drumming thoughtfully on the counter. "I've been waiting for 40 minutes. What exactly about my hat is problematic?" His tone carried genuine curiosity rather than confrontation as if he were conducting an impromptu social experiment.
The manager Lisa emerged from the back room, a stern expression on her face. She'd built The Progressive Bean from the ground up over the past 5 years, transforming it from a simple coffee shop into what she considered a beacon of forward-thinking values in the community.
"Sir we do not support a specific interest here and we try not to cause commotion amidst our customers. We would be happy to serve you if you removed it."
The man in the baseball cap looked around the cafe taking in every detail from the "Everyone Welcome" sign prominently displayed on the wall, to the array of sustainability certifications proudly framed near the register. His eyes lingered on the AI-powered coffee machines that had been featured in local tech magazines and the detailed infographic explaining the cafe's solar power system. A slight smile crossed his face, not one of anger but of curiosity, as if he had just encountered an interesting puzzle to solve.
"Very well," he said simply turning toward the door. The morning light caught the metallic threading in his hat's logo making it shimmer momentarily. As he walked out he paused to look back at the establishment's name, The Progressive Bean. The smile never left his face but there was something in his eyes. Not anger or resentment but the spark of inspiration that those who knew him would have instantly recognized. That's because the man in the baseball cap was Elon Musk though on that particular day he had been trying to maintain a low profile. The hat that had caused such controversy bore the Make America Great Again logo but little did he know it would lead to such denial.
The rest of the video addresses how Musk returned to the coffee shop the next day to transform "the café into a groundbreaking sustainable technology hub, creating educational programs and proving that the best response to prejudice is progress."
But there is no evidence of Musk ever entering and having this exchange in a coffee shop, nor is there proof that a cafe called The Progressive Bean was refurbished into a tech hub. Images in the video and the accompanying voiceover are likely AI-generated. As such, we rate this claim as fake.
The story being told in the video suggests the creator was poking fun at "progressive" coffee shop cultures and satirizing their purported exclusion of Trump supporters. It also presents Musk as being open-minded, meeting opposition with patience and politeness. HARMONIZED, the YouTube account that posted this claim, has made multiple videos with poorly edited images and voiceovers, all showing Musk doing something inspirational, like helping a veteran pay for his groceries, an incident that allegedly made headlines.
We were unable to verify the authenticity of Musk's interaction with the veteran, nor were we able to find the purported headlines, but the video uses the same language to describe the tech mogul who also shows "genuine curiosity" there.
We searched for evidence of Musk and this coffee shop, and our Google searches sent us back to the YouTube video. If this had been a real incident — and Musk had returned to transform the supposed coffee shop into a technology center — then it would have been covered by the news media. We found no proof of a "The Progressive Bean" coffee shop in downtown San Francisco, though we did find cafes with names like "The Progress" and "Progressive Grounds."
The voiceover in the video also said onlookers recorded the interaction on their phones; however, we found no evidence of such videos posted on social media.
The robotic voiceover was another suspicious element in the video. At various points, background noise was added to the voiceover, including sounds of birds chirping and chatter, presumably meant to evoke cafe patrons. However, the background sound cut abruptly. The video relied solely on still images. Not a single individual represented in the video, including Musk, was seen moving their lips or making any of the statements alleged in the voiceover.
Using various screenshots from the video footage, we used AI-detection tool True Media, to determine their authenticity. The below screenshot shows Musk standing in front of The Progressive Bean coffee shop. When we input this image into the tool, it found "substantial evidence of manipulation."
(Screenshot via YouTube/TheHARMONIZED)
The tool analysis stated that while Musk's face had not been manipulated, the combination of him and the coffee shop was unusual, suggesting a potential manipulation to create humor or satire.
Furthermore, we used Google's reverse-image tool to look at screenshots of the purported "manager" of the coffee shop, Lisa. All the results took us back to the original YouTube video.
Trump has been spotted with Musk since winning the election, tapping him in the newly created role of co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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