Elon Musk slammed for Tesla threat over California lockdown: 'He can't be responsible for naming his own child'
Is the world finally turning on Elon Musk? Not completely, but many are tired of the tech mogul's antics on Twitter and off the social media site. His latest rebuke-inducing act came when his company, Tesla Inc. sued Alameda County after Musk threatened to do so on Twitter.
On Saturday, May 9, after Alameda County officials said that they had not given the "green light" for Tesla to reopen its manufacturing unit in Fremont, California despite Governor Gavin Newsom order that businesses could start reopening, Musk threatened to move the factory to Texas or Nevada and sue the county, the latter which Tesla Inc. did the same day.
Alameda County's officials had extended lockdown measures until May 31, since Newsom mentioned in his orders that the opening of businesses would depend on the respective counties.
Now, Twitter is reacting to Musk's tweets and Tesla's lawsuit of Tesla Inc. Actor Michael Rapaport tweeted, "Said he saw the entire COVID problem play out in China and now is watching the sequel in the US. Yet did NOTHING to sound the alarm. Now he complains all about it affecting HIM. Guy thinks he's Tony Stark but he ain't. [You're] no Iron Man. No Free Captain America. Ant D**k Man."
When Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich tweeted, "Elon Musk threatens to take away people’s jobs unless he’s allowed to risk their health. Capitalism at its worst," Musk responded by calling Reich an "idiot" in Russian.
Reich also tweeted, "Elon Musk furloughed thousands of factory workers and ordered pay cuts. Meanwhile, he stands to take home a $700M bonus. Now, he's threatening to close his Fremont facility and take away people’s jobs unless he’s allowed to risk their health. Billionaires aren't the answer." Musk later blocked Reich, which prompted the latter to tweet, "So let me get this straight: Elon Musk is willing to subject his factory workers to COVID, but won’t subject himself to criticism on Twitter?"
Other academicians also joined in on their criticism of Musk. Columbia University Professor and author, Tim Wu tweeted, "Hard times are a test of character; and by that measure Elon Musk is proving a total zero." Political scientist Ian Bremmer wrote, "I appreciate Elon Musk giving us something to be annoyed about that isn’t related to coronavirus."
Other hilarious criticism of Musk followed. Dieter Bohn, executive editor of The Verge tweeted, "You can tell Elon Musk really does think we are living in a simulation because he keeps acting like he’s Eric Cartman in an episode of South Park."
Most people were quite direct in their judgment. One user tweeted, "Elon Musk is a rich dweeb who exploits his workers and deserves no respect at all," while another shared, "In honor of the Scripps National Spelling Bee: RANTALLION. ElonMusk: throws temper tantrums about public health protections, threatens his workers’ job security during pandemic, and falsely promises ventilators and instead sends biPAPs. RANTALLION."
Another tweeted, "Might be time for people to start entertaining the idea that Elon Musk is less a promethean super genius who will lead our civilization towards space utopia and more a garden variety capitalist of average intelligence who simply cannot log off and rarely hears the word 'no'."
Meanwhile, others are capitalizing on Musk's naming of his son with Grimes and his prediction that human language would be obsolete in as little as five years. One user tweeted, "Why does Elon Musk think he should be responsible for legislating California's reopening? He can't even be responsible for naming his own child." Another wrote, "Salty predicts that Elon Musk shouldn’t be listened to as a source anymore because he named his son a graphing calculator equation."
However, one user looked to be optimistic about Musk's prediction and tweeted, "If it means I never have to listen to Elon Musk again then sign me up."