(RNS) — It’s still a matter of debate whether the salute performed by Elon Musk at an Inauguration Day speech in Washington — a chest thump followed by a straight-armed gesture — was intended to evoke a Nazi salute. But on Wednesday (Jan. 29), a small Anglican denomination dismissed a priest for his apparent imitation of the Musk salute at a public event, saying he had been inappropriately “trolling” abortion-rights supporters.
“While we cannot say what was in Mr. Robinson’s heart when he did this,” the statement by the Anglican Catholic Church said of Calvin Robinson, a British transplant who had been associated with the ACC since last year, “his action appears to have been an attempt to curry favor with certain elements of the American political right by provoking its opposition.”
Robinson’s salute occurred Saturday at the end of his appearance at the National Pro-Life Summit, where he praised Americans for “fighting for life.”
“God bless all of you for what you’re doing. Please keep doing it. I hope that I can encourage you, and my heart goes out to you. God bless,” said Robinson, before thumping his chest and saluting quickly to the right, arm extended, palm down. As the crowd laughed and applauded, Robinson gave them a knowing look.
On social media, viewers were quick to link the gesture to Musk’s controversial salute at the Capitol One Arena on Jan. 20. Musk, too, had said “my heart goes out to you.” Both gestures have been compared to a Nazi salute.
Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Video screen grab)
According to the denomination, “Mr. Robinson had been warned that online trolling and other such actions (whether in service of the left or right) are incompatible with a priestly vocation and was told to desist. Clearly, he has not, and as such, his license in this Church has been revoked. He is no longer serving as a priest in the ACC.”
The statement went on to condemn antisemitism and Nazi ideology. “[W]e believe that those who mimic the Nazi salute, even as a joke or an attempt to troll their opponents, trivialize the horror of the Holocaust and diminish the sacrifice of those who fought against its perpetrators. Such actions are harmful, divisive, and contrary to the tenets of Christian charity.”
The Anglican Catholic Church was formed in the late 1970s by a group of clergy who broke from the Episcopal Church in the United States, in part due to the larger denomination’s decision to ordain women.
Robinson did not respond to request for comment in time for publication. On X, Robinson confirmed his license had been revoked, saying he learned the news via social media.
“My parishioners have been on the phone last night and this morning expressing concerns about our parish ministry; please keep them in your prayers,” he wrote. “They are the priority here. I am their pastor, and they are my flock. I will remain here for their pastoral needs, but I am worried about how they will receive the Sacraments.” Robinson also encouraged those seeking more information to contact his archbishop.
On Wednesday, Robinson also posted on X clarifying that he is not a Nazi, and he characterized his gesture as an “attempt at dry wit, in that typical British way.”
“The joke at the end was a mockery of the hysterical ‘liberals’ who called Elon Musk a Nazi for quite clearly showing the audience his heart was with them. Context is key, but sometimes people ignore context to confirm their own prejudices,” he wrote.
On Thursday, the editorial team of video game website and publication God is a Geek announced the entire editorial staff would be resigning in light of Robinson’s salute. Robinson, who owns the website, had “zero” input on the site in recent years, according to the announcement, which said the editorial team did not condone Robinson’s actions.
“We will create a new site and our future content will be published there, bereft of any connection to Calvin Robinson,” the staffers wrote.
When asked for comment on ACC’s decision to defrock Robinson, a spokesperson for Students for Life of America, which runs the National Pro-Life Summit, pointed RNS to a post by Students For Life President Kristan Hawkins. She condemned the Holocaust as “one of humankind’s worst tragedies,” while also saying that labeling people as “Nazis” is what happens when “people can no longer make persuasive or logical arguments.”
“The same people who look at an ultrasound and can’t see a baby will look at a Conservative expressing gratitude to a crowd and see a problem,” wrote Hawkins. “This is a coalition more upset over their interpretation of a hand wave by a priest, made in obvious satire to troll the Leftist media’s ruthelss & unfounded attacks against Elon Musk simply for being a Trump supporter, than the fact that all but one Democrat in Congress are okay with and voted in favor of infanticide last week.”
A onetime political commentator, Robinson is no stranger to controversy. Robinson, who is Black, is known for his strong opposition to women’s ordination and the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as for his criticism of the “liberal infestation of the church.”
“There is no fight left in England; it has become broadly apathetic to an invasion on the one hand by Islam and corruption on the other hand by liberalism,” he wrote in fall 2024.
The Rev. Calvin Robinson speaks at the Oxford Union Society in Oxford, England, in February 2023. (Video screen grab)
In 2022, Robinson claimed in an article in the British press that he had been blocked from becoming a priest in the Church of England due to his “anti-woke views.” He said he was prevented from serving as assistant curate at a parish in the Diocese of London after bishops voiced concerns about his social media presence. The Diocese of London told The Telegraph there are “a limited number of curacies available” and there was “no suitable option” they could offer Robinson.
That same year, Robinson left the Church of England for the Free Church of England, where he was ordained as a deacon. Formed in the mid-19th century, the Free Church of England is not a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion that includes the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in the United States. In 2016, the Free Church came into full communion with the Anglican Church in North America, a conservative offshoot of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada.
In the past three years, Robinson has bounced from one conservative Anglican jurisdiction to another, leaving the Free Church of England and being ordained as a priest in another small denomination, the Nordic Catholic Church in England, in fall 2023.
In August 2024, he announced his departure from the United Kingdom and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, soon after, where he became priest-in-charge of St. Paul’s Anglican Catholic Church. Last January, Robinson was the subject of a different controversy when he was removed from an Anglican conference after comparing women’s ordination to a “Trojan horse” and to “cancer.”
“The doors were left open for the Marxist ideologies to gain a foothold, gender theory, queer theory, critical race theory — it all began with feminism,” he said at the conference.
This story has been updated to include the resignation of the God is a Geek editorial team.