‘These headlines are sabotaging Tesla’s brand’: Elon Musk breaks down after media reports on Cybertruck explosion
Elon Musk melts down over media reports on the Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas, threatening to sue any media outlets that don’t specify in the headline that the explosion wasn’t caused by a car malfunction.
On New Year’s Day, a Cybertruck parked outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas exploded, killing one individual inside the vehicle and injuring several bystanders. Investigators quickly confirmed that the explosion wasn’t a car malfunction but an intentional detonation set off by fireworks and gas canisters inside the vehicle. It is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack and took place just hours after a vehicle-ramming terrorist attack occurred in New Orleans.
After the explosion, Musk weighed in on the situation, stating, “We’ve never seen anything like this.” However, he quickly provided an update, clearing the technology and writing, “We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.” At first, Musk appeared to be simply cooperating with the investigation and ensuring his technology was safe. Now, he appears to have gone beyond cooperation and assurance with his hyper-fixation on arbitrarily reiterating that Cybertruck’s technology didn’t cause the explosion.
Elon Musk threatens to sue the media over headlines
On January 1st, Musk reshared a post by anti-trans filmmaker Robby Starbuck. In the original post, Starbuck expressed anger that article headlines didn’t immediately specify that fireworks inside the vehicle had caused the Cybertruck explosion. To prove his point, he screenshotted the headline of a Business Insider article, which read, “Telsa Cybertruck explosion in front of Trump hotel in Las Vegas leaves 1 dead, 7 injured.” Starbuck raged that the headline wasn’t solely focused on clearing Tesla’s name, writing, “These headlines are sabotaging @Tesla’s brand by making people think it caught on fire.” He then suggested that Musk should sue the outlets that used similar headlines.
In response to the idea of suing the outlets, Musk wrote, “Maybe it is time to do so.” The Tesla CEO appears to be thinking of borrowing a page from his buddy Donald Trump and suing the media for every little technicality in frivolous lawsuits that have no legal ground and are simply an attempt to assert dominance.
Musk’s and Starbuck’s rage over headlines is quite perplexing. After all, if they had actually read the article from Business Insider, they’d see it included Musk’s statement confirming the explosion wasn’t caused by faulty technology. It does not attempt whatsoever to mislead readers into thinking that the Cybertruck exploded on its own. When news of the explosion was very fresh, there was some speculation about the technology. However, since the media confirmed the blast was intentional and set off by fireworks, absolutely no one has been trying to twist the story to attack Tesla.
Musk’s threat of a lawsuit is strange, as it would never stand in court. There’s nothing false about Business Insider‘s headline because the Cybertruck did explode, regardless of cause. Additionally, the body of the article accurately conveys all the details of the explosion. There’s no “sabotage”. It’s simply that most outlets have a limited number of characters for the headline, and these outlets were more focused on conveying the news, including the number of casualties, than crafting their headlines to promote Tesla.
Musk’s and Starbuck’s threats of lawsuits do nothing more than demonstrate their lack of reading comprehension and understanding of the media. They likely believe that because they personally interpret the news by solely reading a headline and then jumping to a random conclusion that fits their agenda, everyone else does that, too. However, the media doesn’t have to try to print an entire story in a 60-character headline to cater to these MAGAs. It should continue catering to the population that actually has the capacity to read and comprehend a full article.
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