Tesla fires manager who criticised Elon Musk on social media

NEW YORK - Tesla has fired a manager who objected to a social media post by chief executive Elon Musk that referred to Nazi leaders. It was the latest example that public criticism of the boss was unacceptable in the Musk business empire.

Mr Jared Ottmann, a manager and engineer who worked with Tesla’s battery suppliers, said he had been fired because he criticised Mr Musk for a post on the latter’s social media platform X that used the names of Nazis like Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goring in a series of wordplay.

“Stop Goring your enemies,” Mr Musk wrote on Jan 23, adding, “Bet you did Nazi that coming.” He punctuated the post with a laughing-while-crying emoji.

Mr Ottmann said on LinkedIn in late January that he was offended that Mr Musk had referred “as a joke” to Nazis who were responsible for genocide.

“Starting in 2022 and especially the last week, I’ve raised the issue internally multiple times, with managers, HR, legal compliance, investor relations,” Mr Ottmann wrote, referring to behaviour by Mr Musk that he found objectionable. “And while overwhelmingly people offer personal support, Tesla as a company has remained silent.”

Tesla did not reply to a request for comment.

Investors in Tesla, the only publicly traded company that Mr Musk runs, are also worried that his political activities are alienating some buyers and that he is spending too much time in Washington and not enough time addressing slumping car sales. Shares of the company have sunk about 40 per cent from a high set on Dec 17.

Mr Musk’s companies, which include SpaceX and X, have a history of punishing dissent.

In 2022, SpaceX, which makes rockets, fired nine employees

who had called on the company to distance itself from social media comments by Mr Musk, including one in which he mocked sexual harassment accusations against him.

Mr Ottmann’s critical remarks, and Tesla’s reaction, are the latest indication of the disruption caused by Mr Musk’s right-wing politics. He has supported a far-right party in Germany whose members have been fined by the government for using Nazi slogans.

Mr Musk’s role in the Trump administration as leader of the Department of Government Efficiency has also made him a polarising figure.

Mr Musk has also fired workers at X who criticised him. In the wake of his US$44 billion (S$59 billion) takeover of the company, then called Twitter, in 2022, several employees posted critiques of the billionaire on the platform. Mr Musk argued with some of them online and they were later fired.

The firings are at odds with Mr Musk’s often-stated goal to defend free speech. He has offered to fund lawsuits against employers who fire workers because of things they posted on X. In 2024, he funded a suit for a former worker at the payments company Block after she was fired for inflammatory posts she made on a pseudonymous X account. NYTIMES