Cybertruck owners are having a tough time of it, increasingly saying that their $80,000-plus vehicles are the victims of cheese-related attacks and “anti-Nazi” harassment in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s mass-firings role as head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). Now, one owner has taken matters into his own hands, calling on his congressman to demand it be labeled a hate crime to be mean to Tesla owners.
“I find it deeply troubling that owning an American-made vehicle has made me—and many others—a target for unjustified hostility,” he wrote in a Facebook post last week. “I have personally experienced multiple alarming incidents. On one occasion, while driving on I-80, another driver deliberately attempted to run me off the road. In another unsettling encounter, while washing my car in my own driveway, a stranger drove up, hurled insults at me, and then left while running stops signs.”
He believes these unsettling activities go beyond an issue of just property damage. “I urge you to consider legislative action that would increase penalties for these acts, potentially classifying them as hate crimes or enhancing legal consequences for individuals who engage in such behavior,” he continued. “No one should be harassed, threatened, or harmed based on the car they drive.”
404 Media recently reported on a Facebook group page for Cybertruck owners full of videos and photos of passersby and other drivers flipping them off, as well as people kicking their cars. One video taken from inside a Cybertruck shows a man throwing American cheese slices at its windshield. The comments are full of fellow Cybertruck owners suggesting the victim file a police report against the cheese-attacker. Attempts have also been made to dox the person by posting a screen grab of his face to social media.
Police appear to be taking these pleas for protection seriously. One TikTok video from an International Women’s Day march in New York this weekend shows no less than nine police officers guarding the perimeter of a single Cybertruck. “Thought the Cybertruck was tough with a steel body and unbreakable glass,” one user commented. “Why does it need protection?”
Wider Musk protests at Tesla dealerships have turned driving a Cybertruck into an intended, or unintended, statement. On Saturday, more than 350 demonstrators convened on a Tesla showroom in Manhattan as part of the nationwide “Tesla Takedown.” Protesters are encouraging shareholders and vehicle owners to dump their stock and sell their cars in response to Musk’s seeming slash-and-burn activities with DOGE. Tesla stock (Nasdaq: TSLA) has dropped about 40% since the beginning of the year, and was down 13% in midday trading Monday.
For those who can’t afford to sell, they are coming up with creative solutions. Anti-Musk bumper stickers have been popping up on Etsy and topping Amazon bestseller lists. Regretful Tesla owners are grabbing up stickers that read, “I bought this before Elon was crazy,” “Anti Elon Tesla Club,” and “Elon ate my cat.”
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