Elon was booed by Tesla employees in their own backyard. It shows the damage done by his Twitter mess to his fan base.

Business Insider



Musk at a 2022 Halloween party. Taylor Hill/Getty Images
2015 saw Elon Musk receive applause for Tesla. He gets booed for being on stage in 2022.

Elon Musk was a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2015. Colbert called Musk “the true Tony Stark” and Musk received a round of applause. Colbert then asked Musk if he was truly trying to save the planet.

Musk retorted, claiming he was trying “to do useful things.”

Colbert stated, “You’re trying do useful things,” and that he was a billionaire. It’s a bit like being a superhero or supervillain. It’s up to you to choose one.

Musk’s trajectory appeared to be heading towards the latter: Tesla had made significant strides in making electric cars fashionable, and SpaceX was bringing excitement and possibility back into the space race.

Seven years later, Musk was greeted with a completely different reception at a show hosted by another comedian legend.

Elon surprised everyone by appearing at the Dave Chappelle show at San Francisco Chase Center on Sunday night. Chapelle stated, “Make some noise to honor the richest man on the planet.” The estimated 18,000 attendees quickly booed Musk.

“You didn’t expect this, weren’t you?” As the boos continued, Musk asked Chapelle.

Chapelle joked that it sounds like some people you fired are there, referring to the drastic job cuts made at Twitter in the past month since Musk assumed control.

–Chris Stokel-Walker ~ @stokel@infosec.exchange (@stokel) December 12, 2022

Twitter and Elon’s “dark comedy”

Musk is an avid comedy fan. It is not hard to see his love for shows like “Rick and Morty.” It’s hard to imagine another tech CEO hosting Saturday Night Live.

It’s difficult to imagine anyone in San Francisco 2022 reacting to being asked to make noise for the richest man on the planet.

The footage is still difficult to view. Musk’s awkwardness on stage can make it feel like Musk is feeling sorry for the richest man in the world.

The booing occurred at the end a weekend that saw Musk get a lot of flack even for recent standards. On Saturday, he was tweeting insinuations about Yoel Roth, his former head, Twitter’s Trust & Safety division. He suggested that “children could access adult Internet services” in his PhD thesis. This was a very bad-faith reading Roth’s 2016 dissertation, and it quickly led to death threats for Roth.

On Sunday, Musk wrote: “My pronouns were Prosecute/Fauci.” It’s a groaner that Musk uses to harass transgender people and reiterate his opposition to anti-COVID measures such as the lockdowns of 2020. He also gives red meat to his “anti-woke” users, whom he seems to consider his true fan base. (Dave Chapelle has a history of antagonizing transgender people.

His tweet was liked 1 million times and he then posted another: “Truth resonates …”

Musk quickly reacted on Twitter to the reply of a person with less than 700 followers, saying “So does a crowd filled with boos.” Musk blamed the booing for angering “SF’s unhinged leftists”.

–Elon Musk (@elonmusk), December 12, 2022

It is dangerous to extrapolate public sentiment towards Musk from one comedy show in San Francisco. Musk has many admirers and fans, especially those at the top of Silicon Valley power. It’s an amazing turn of events, given that Tesla’s cars remain one of San Francisco’s most iconic status symbols. This makes it probable that some portion of the audience had contributed to Musk’s wealth or power.

The shifting perceptions surrounding Musk could be a cause for concern at Tesla. California is Tesla’s most important and historical market. According to official data, electric cars account for nearly 18% of all new car sales in California. The original headquarters of the company was located in San Francisco Bay Area. Musk’s status as a local hero could lead to some customers being disillusioned.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote on November 10: “In what had been a dark comedy with Twitter, Musk essentially tarnished Tesla stock and is now starting to potentially affect the Tesla brand through this ongoing Twitter train wreck disaster.

Ives revealed that Wedbush would take Tesla off Wedbush’s “Best Ideas” list. Ives wrote that Tesla stock was being sold again and again, as well as the PR nightmare that Twitter has become. He also mentioned that Musk’s attention is shifting from Tesla to Twitter and, ultimately, the fear that the Twitter lightning rod of controversy on an almost daily basis will negatively impact the Tesla brand worldwide.

Ives said it best: “Tesla, Musk.” It’s becoming less clear every day who Elon Musk really is.

Business Insider has the original article.
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By: insider@insider.com (Jake Swearingen)
Title: Elon Musk was booed in Tesla’s backyard. It shows how the Twitter mess has eroded his support among some of his biggest fans.
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-dave-chapelle-boo-yoel-roth-tweets-2022-12
Published Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2022 01:04:54 +0000