Events in Texas, California, Florida, and other states will begin on Saturday at Tesla showrooms
- Demonstrators eager to protest Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk plan to assemble at showrooms across the country on February 15.
- Dubbed the “Tesla Takedown” or “Tesla Takeover” on social media, the events will take place in several large cities.
- At this point Tesla nor Elon Musk have offered any sort of de-escalation tactics in the wake of recent events.
A decade ago, Elon Musk and Tesla were the poster children of innovation. No matter what they did, or in Musk’s case, tweeted, millions of fans adored them. Today, the mood around each has changed dramatically. While no doubt both continue to have their fans, a large swath of the population in the world appears eager to see both fail, simply by association.
The shift in sentiment is so profound that protests are now planned at Tesla showrooms across the United States, set to begin on Saturday, February 15. Organizers have even created a webpage to track where these protests will take place.
Called the Tesla Takedown or Tesla Takeover on social media, the protests aim to challenge Elon Musk, who has taken a very public and prominent role in Donald Trump’s administration. The organizing website lays out a few specific calls to action: “Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines. Hurting Tesla is stopping Musk. Stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy,” it states. But what triggered this shift in attitude?
More: Tesla Supercharger Vandalized With Nazi Graffiti, Driver Targeted In Massachusetts
In the last few months alone, Musk has stirred up significant backlash, first over a gesture at a political rally that many interpreted as a siege heil salute, and then by backing a far-right political party in Germany called AfD. Now, he’s in the middle of a headline-grabbing dismantling of US government programs and agencies through DOGE. Actions like these aren’t sitting well with everyone, and as a result, protests are set to begin tomorrow.
The site helping to organize the protests claims events are scheduled in Boston, Sacramento, Seattle, and other major cities. Whether large crowds will actually show up is something we’ll only know once the events unfold.
What’s not up for debate is that some people are already taking retribution into their own hands, often crossing legal lines. Protesters projected Musk and his infamous hand gesture on a Tesla factory in Berlin already. In the USA, countless Tesla cars have become the victim of vandalism and more Tesla owners are receiving threats about the same sort of action.
Just a few days ago, the group Students Against Nazi Extremism (SANE) left notes on Teslas in California promising to damage the cars if the owners still had them on February 12.
It’s not just the car damage that’s a problem, as sales are way down for Tesla across the globe. The question now is whether Musk and Tesla will make an effort to repair their image and regain their former goodwill, or if they’ll simply ride out the storm, despite the growing protests and increasingly hostile public sentiment.
We have Musk protest events popping up at Tesla showrooms and plants all over the country and many more here and worldwide. Join or create your own event at Teslatakedown.com
— Alex Winter (@alexwinter.com) February 13, 2025 at 1:37 PM