Tesla CEO and everyone’s least favorite eccentric billionaire Elon Musk has added his voice to the call to end stay-at-home orders in various U.S. states against the advice of the vast majority of public health and infectious disease experts. After tweeting out the vague call to “FREE AMERICA NOW” on Tuesday, he went on a whole tangent during a call with investors about the company’s quarterly earnings.
“The extension of the shelter in place or frankly I would call it ‘forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights’—that’s my opinion—and breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country,” he said to some guy who was just asking about Tesla’s liquidity. “What the f***? Excuse me. Outrage.”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called stay-at-home orders meant to slow the coronavirus pandemic "fascist" and likened them to "forcibly imprisoning people in their homes" during a Tesla earnings call. https://t.co/lY97Rm9Rw0
— CNN International (@cnni) April 30, 2020
When someone actually asked about the effects of the pandemic on the company, he used the other F-word.
“But to say they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.”
Sounds like someone’s losing money. At the very least, Musk is worried about that, as he expressed when he first started answering the question about liquidity.
FREE AMERICA NOW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2020
“We are a bit worried about not being able to resume production in the Bay Area. And that should be identified as a serious risk,” he said. “We only have two car factories right now: One in Shanghai and one in the Bay Area, and the Bay Area produces the vast majority of our cars.”
Few members of the public have any patience for these latest antics by Elon Musk, especially after he spent much of the months leading up to the pandemic downplaying the seriousness of the novel coronavirus and making irresponsible, Trump-like suggestions about drugs that hadn’t been tested on the virus yet.
Meant to say other forms of “the cold”, not influenza https://t.co/38sqqL3f7i
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2020
The coronavirus panic is dumb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 6, 2020
Maybe worth considering chloroquine for C19 https://t.co/LEYob7Jofr
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 16, 2020
When a follower pointed out that Musk is “losing followers and respect,” the billionaire retorted, “Bon voyage.”
Bon voyage
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2020
After all that, as well as after years of living under an administration that has repeatedly and heavily flirted with actual fascism, reasonable people are 100 percent done with Elon freaking Musk.
Beyond the headline and the F word there is a lot in this article capturing Musk’s brand of predatory entitlement, lying and general awfulness. https://t.co/bLzAN4p1r3
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 30, 2020
He is willing to risk workers’ lives to get his $725 MILLION stock option windfall. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone. Yet the protective laws are fascist. Yeah, right. @elonmusk is garbage. #boycottTesla https://t.co/0Ey2ehm3Ep
— Bob McMahon (@ram_mcmahon) April 30, 2020
Rich guy wants you to die so he can make more money.
— #BobbysDaughter???????????????????????? (@Mama4Obama1) April 30, 2020
Freedom is not the right to do as you wish without constraint or consequences. You are not ‘free’ for example, to kill your neighbour or drive recklessly. Americans never seem to get this, the same way they do not get gun control and universal health. #ElonMusk #COVID19
— julieannhayes (@julieannhayes) April 30, 2020
Amazing how many people don’t know what fascism is, what fascism means… anything about the history of fascism.
— Billy Baldwin (@BillyBaldwin) April 30, 2020
