Early Friday (US time), Elon Musk took to his X profile to share a post that may have left some people scratching their heads. Given the context, it wasn’t difficult to understand that the billionaire tech titan’s virtual message was actually a sarcastic dig at former FBI Director James Comey, who was indicted on two offences related to his congressional testimony merely hours ago.

“Cool shell formation found on beach walk,” he tweeted alongside an AI-generated pictured that caught the likeness of US President Donald Trump kneeling down on a beach and arranging the pebbles to spell out the word ‘FAFO.’

What does ‘FAFO’ mean?

Those familiar with Gen-Z slang may recognise the meaning behind the acronym. For the unversed, the word ‘FAFO’ is short for “F*** Around and Find Out,” a direct indication that one’s actions have consequences. Some may even consider it as the acronym for “Fool Around and Find Out,” which essentially means the same thing, referring to the outcome of one’s actions that one can’t swerve around and has to face.

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Elon Musk’s FAFO post explained

The Tesla CEO’s post is a direct reference to a post ex-FBI chief James Comey’s Instagram post shared in May. His social media activity came under scrutiny for what came to be known as the ’86 47′ controversy.

Those with an eye for US politics may recall Comey posting an image of seashells at the time. The stones seemingly bore the appearance of the numbers ‘8647,’ owing to the way their arrangement came together. Much like the similarity of Comey and Musk’s post, their captions resemble each other too.

“Cool Shell formation on my beach walk,” Comey wrote on the post. The MAGA camp instantly deemed it a murder or assassination threat targeting US President Donald Trump, especially since the number 86 is slang for “to get rid of,” “to throw out” or even “to kill,” while 47 directly correlates to the American leader’s stance as the 47th president of the country.

As one could’ve expected, James Comey has since deleted that post from his Instagram feed. Shortly after its erasure, he responded to the emerging backlash, and issued the statement: “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realise some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

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Elon Musk’s dig at James Comey’s indictment

The SpaceX boss’ recent X post is then a direct hit at at Comey, who has endlessly been the subject of Trump’s criticism. Accused of lying to a Senate committee in 2020 about whether he pushed for classified information be leaked to the media, Comey was charged with making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation.

The US Justice Department’s filing of criminal charges against the former FBI boss on Thursday (US time) is now also being considered a consequence of going up against the Republican president. Although Comey still asserts his innocence, he could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Elon’s social media post is basically a direct message to Comey that he found out what would happen is someone pursues political enmity against Trump, who fired him in 2017. At the time, then-FBI boss was leading an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The POTUS, on the other hand, hasn’t been as subtle as Musk in reacting to Comey’s indictment, as he hailed to be an exhibit of “JUSTICE IN AMERICA while calling the old FBI leader “one of the worst human beings.” Now, Comey is not only the first former FBI director to ever be indicted on alleged crime charges, but is also the face of the first such criminal case against an adversary of Trump so far during his second term.