Elon Musk's bizarre new name for the English Channel sparks outrage after Trump renames Gulf of Mexico

Elon Musk has revealed his bizarre new name for the English Channel which has sparked mass outrage online after Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico.

Tech mogul Musk has been keeping very close to Trump as of late - he did, after all, bankroll the Republican leader's presidential campaign.

And he seems to be following in Trump's footsteps after the 78-year-old changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the 'Gulf of America', amid a potential tightening on immigration restrictions at the Mexican border.

Speaking earlier this month (7 January) at a news conference in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump, who is the first convicted felon to assume the presidency, described the 'Gulf of America' as having a 'nice ring to it', adding, 'what a beautiful name and it's appropriate'.

Discussing the body of 1,700 mile-long coastline, he described the Gulf as an 'integral asset' to the States, whose 'natural resources and wildlife remain central to America’s economy today'.

Addressing Trump's controversial executive order last Tuesday (21 January) during a daily press conference, the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, announced that US residents can abide by his name-change all they want, but that Mexicans would not be following in tow.

Elon Musk has proposed a bizarre new name for the English Channel (Pool / Pool / Getty Images)

Laughing at the prospect, she declared: "He says that he will call it the Gulf of America on its continental shelf.

"For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico."

Using Trump's own logic to refute him, Pardo also argued in response that the US should rename itself 'Mexican American' based on a 17th century map which supports this title for the area.

And now, Musk has once again taken to X to post something controversial, also seemingly keen on renaming geographical locations.

He took to the social media platform over the weekend (26 January) to share a proposed name for the English Channel acting as an ode to the first-ever US president.

Musk captioned the snap: "New name for the water that separates England and France."

The image in question showed the English Channel alongside the overlay text which read 'The George Washington Channel'.

Musk took to Twitter to share his thoughts (X/@elonmusk)

Unsurprisingly, Musk's provocative tweet prompted quite the backlash online, with one X user hitting out: "What's with this obsession now to change the names of geographical landmarks?"

"About time you grow up," penned another.

Someone else added: "This doesn't even make sense as a joke..."