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Jimmy Kimmel has mocked Elon Musk after the Tesla CEO complained that people protesting his electric car company must have “some kind of mental illness.”
Musk, 53, was being interviewed on Fox News when he described protestors as “deranged.” The comments come after an onslaught of arson attacks have hit Tesla showrooms.
After playing the Fox News clip during Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the late night host, 57, shot back: “Well, let me see if I can explain it for you. When you pull out a chainsaw to celebrate firing thousands of people, they get mad.”
He added: “My god. I mean, this poor guy. You do one, maybe two Nazi salutes, everybody gets all bent out of shape!”
On his own social media platform, X, Musk responded to the clip by writing: “What a jerk.”
A few minutes later he posted again, adding: “He’s such an unfunny jerk.”
Last month, Musk waved a chainsaw around on stage at at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The display of the power tool was apparently intended as a reference to the figurative chainsaw Musk is taking to the federal government.
In January, Musk had been accused of giving what appeared to be two fascist salutes during a speech praising the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Earlier in his monologue, Kimmel discussed the arson attacks and referenced the fact that Tesla’s share price is slumping.
“Here’s the thing, I get that people are upset,“ said Kimmel. ”Burning a car might not be great for the environment. I don’t think that’s what they had in mind when they invented the electric car.
“In Las Vegas yesterday, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at a Tesla service center. At least five Teslas blew up, one from the Molotov and four because that’s just what Teslas do sometimes.”
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He added: “No one should be setting fires. You could kill somebody, you could hurt somebody. Elon Musk might not care about other people, but decent Americans should.”
Earlier today, an early investor in Tesla called for Musk to leave his post as the company’s CEO if he doesn’t depart from his current job focusing on cutting down the federal government.
Ross Gerber told Sky News Musk has lost his focus and that he’s now too “divisive,” pointing to Musk’s leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk’s slashing of federal agencies has prompted outrage and protests against Tesla, with owners being urged to sell their vehicles.
“I think Tesla needs a new CEO, and I decided today I was going to start saying it, and so this is the first show that I’m saying it on,” Gerber told Sky.
