At least 34 Cybertrucks being stored in an open parking lot in Florida were vandalized with a spray-painted message that read “Fuck Elon” last week, according to local TV news outlet in Fort Lauderdale. Footage of the vandalism went viral on social media over the weekend and it’s just the latest sign that Musk’s Cybertruck is inspiring, shall we say, strong reactions among the American public.
Video posted by the Florida-based Instagram account Only in Dade shows row after row of the Cybertrucks, all with “Fuck Elon” on the hood. Some of the vehicles’ side doors also had the same graffiti. It’s unclear who vandalized the cars.
The parking lot was recently leased by Tesla, according to NBC 6 in South Florida and there are no visible signs of any security, such as gates or barriers that would’ve prevented easy access to the Cybertrucks. Most of the vandalized vehicles had already been cleaned up or taken away when a reporter for NBC 6 visited the lot late Friday, according to the TV station.
Why would anyone do this? It’s impossible to determine a motive without knowing who may have done it, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become a lightning rod for controversy in recent years. Musk was largely seen as a perhaps apolitical tech industry leader when he first became known to the broader public in the early 2010s, but has spent the first half of the 2020s revealing he holds many far-right beliefs.
Musk claims he voted for a Republican for the first time in 2022 and has spent recent years boosting racists and extremists on Twitter after buying the social media platform in late 2022. The billionaire has endorsed the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, spread racist ideas against immigrants to the U.S. and infamously supported Dilbert creator Scott Adams after the cartoonist advocated for racial segregation.
Just last week, Musk replied with an exclamation point when a far-right Twitter account made racist claims about Black people being more prone to violence in the U.S. The claims were untrue, of course, but any time Musk interacts with an account, even with a simple exclamation point, it helps boost the tweet’s visibility.
Tesla, which rather famously abolished its media relations department, didn’t respond to an email on Monday seeking comment. We’ll update this post in the unlikely event that we hear something back.
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