People worried after spotting Elon Musk’s hand signal during Donald Trump meeting
The positioning of President Trump and Elon Musk's hands during Charlie Kirk's memorial service has sparked chatter online.
The pair appeared to put their differences aside on Sunday (21 September) as they attended the funeral for the slain political commentator at the State Farm Stadium in Arizona.
Thousands of mourners, political figures and high-profile Americans attended the service, during which Kirk's widow Erika announced she 'forgives' her husband's killer.
Trump was among the speakers who paid tribute to the father-of-two from behind bulletproof glass, which was one of the many strict security measures in place to protect attendees.
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He was seated next to former pal and political ally Elon Musk during the memorial service, who he had quite the brutal public bust-up with earlier this year.
The former pals ended up in a huge row over the controversial 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Act, which ultimately led to the end of both their working and personal relationship.
But yesterday, the duo were seen sharing a handshake and some pleasantries as they sat beside one another at Kirk's funeral.
A lip reading expert has shared her thoughts on what Musk and Trump may have been discussing, but in the meantime, people have been analysing another part of their anatomy - their hands.
Both blokes were pictured resting their hands in a 'pyramid-like' position while sharing some small talk - and social media users believe there may be some symbolism behind this.
Some conspiracy theorists claimed that it may have been a reference to the 'Illuminati sign', while others believed there was an even deeper meaning to it.
Others admitted they had no idea about what the story behind the seemingly harmless hand gesture might be.
One person commented: "It's a power symbol amongst wealthy people."
A second said: "It's some kind of signalling - the pyramid hands - but I don't know what it means.
"My favourite pyramid hand story was when Eric Trump tried doing it at a funeral and his wife whispered in his ear to stop and he did immediately. So it DOES mean something."
A third added: "Lot of weird hand signals going on at the Charlie Kirk memorial. When Elon Musk met Donald Trump ,they were sitting next to each other and both did a pyramid hand symbol at same time and Erika did a devil horn hand sign standing next to Trump at podium. Maybe she was overwhelmed?"
While a fourth speculated: "It's such an unnatural resting sign to make, that it has to be made intentionally."
But others said that people were seriously blowing the 'pyramid hand gesture' out of proportion.
"They don't flash any sign," one chimed in saying. "It's a comfortable hand position for most men. Especially in suits which are restrictive."
Another suggested: "I think it's just natural for your hands to sit that way. There's plenty of times I'd find my hands in poses like this without thinking about it."
Trump and Musk have both been seen holding their hands in this positioning plenty of times in the past.
Forming this triangle-like symbol with your hands is a gesture that's known as 'steeple hands'.
Body language expert Dr Jack Brown previously explained that people who use this hand gesture 'tend to dramatically over-use it'.
Detailing his opinion on what it means, he previously told Medium: "A conventional steeple is an example of a body language behaviour that’s not just alpha — it’s a hyper-alpha behaviour.
"Displaying a conventional steeple may make you feel in charge, confident, powerful - and yes, it will make you feel ‘alpha’ - but also, if you have a reasonable level of baseline empathy, using it will make you feel arrogant.
"If a person uses this nonverbal behaviour often and they don’t feel arrogant, with very high probability, their empathy is very low or nonexistent. I recommend almost never using a conventional steeple."
Topics: Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, US News, Conspiracy Theory
Olivia Burke