Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Tesla showroom in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan today as a part of the “Tesla Takedown” movement.
For weeks now, protests have been organized by groups including People Over Profits and Disruption Project to denounce Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his involvement in the federal government.
Many of the protesters said they are targeting the business that made Musk the richest man in the world. Forbes estimates his net worth to be just under $200 billion.
“If we can go ahead and continue to protest Tesla as strong as we possibly can and let the world know it’s a toxic brand that fuels him, that’s when you start putting pressure on someone. When you control his money, you control him,” said Mark, a protester who was not willing to share his full name out of fear for his safety.
Karin Schall brought chalk to the protest and used the word “STOP” already painted on the asphalt to write “STOP ELON AND DOGE” — the acronym for Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“We’re here and the movement is growing because Elon Musk is an unelected person in D.C. right now. He doesn’t have an office and he doesn’t have an email so we can’t go there to voice our issues and concerns, so we have to show up at his point of business, and one of his places of business is Tesla,” Schall said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
The push against the electric car company appears to have had real consequences. The company’s stock closed at $248.71 on Friday compared to its 52-week high of $488.54 in December, though it is still valued higher than it was for much of 2024.
Musk spoke at a Tesla all-hands meeting this week and told his employees there are better days ahead. “Hang on to your stock,” he urged his staff.
Aside from the peaceful protests across the country, at least 80 reported cases of vandalism or arson of Tesla vehicles have made headlines in the U.S. and Canada.
The FBI released a statement addressing the spike in crimes that have led to three people facing federal charges, and said the “criminal actions appear to have been conducted by lone offenders.”
Still, the agency is encouraging the public “to exercise vigilance and to look out for suspicious activity” near and around Tesla dealerships.
Several Tesla owners have said they’ve been targeted since Musk endorsed Donald Trump for president and have faced harassment, violence or threats from the public. Others have gotten rid of the vehicles.
Dr. Kumait Jaroje, who owns two Teslas, said Saturday that the “peak of the harassment” was the death threats he has received toward him and his family.
He said someone sent him a comment that “somebody will cut me off and pull up a gun and shoot me and my family.”
Jaroje said he’s even had to move his cars away from his home in Massachusetts because he feared for his family’s safety.
“Elon Musk is trying to do something good, I believe, saving the government, cutting down the waste, it’s something good, you know,” he said.
“I don’t agree with everything he’s doing, you know, but at the end of the day, I bought a truck before. It’s a personal choice,” Jaroje said.
Winsome Pendergrass, a speaker at the Saturday’s protest with Planet Over Profit, said she believes all Americans are at risk of losing critical funding and resources thanks to Musk’s efforts.
“We are not going to be silent, we are not going to sit back and allow him to just run over us. We’re going to stand up. We’re going to fight,” Pendergrass said.
“Americans have done it before. … They have shut down the Montgomery Bus Company, so we can shut it down again, and we can shut down all this foolishness that they’re going on with, and we can rebuild an America that is for everyone, America that is inclusive of all of us,” she said.
