Elon Musk threatens to pull Tesla from California
Musk pushes back against coronavirus restrictions; chief correspondent Jonathan Hunt reports.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro mocked The New York Times Thursday over what he called an "astonishing" report about Tesla owners who have been unsettled by CEO Elon Musk's recent tweet telling people, "Take the red pill."
"This sort of story is bullcrap," the "Ben Shapiro Show" host said. "From the same people who proclaim that they are for free speech and open debate ... it's truly astonishing."
Musk made headlines in recent weeks over his threat to take his California-based electric car factory elsewhere due to the state's ongoing coronavirus shutdown orders, but Sunday's tweet caused excitement among some conservatives.
The "red pill" is a reference to the 1999 sci-fi blockbuster film "The Matrix." The term in recent years has become shorthand for undergoing a -- typically conservative -- awakening or, as The Times described it, "waking up to society’s grand lies."
The article by Times tech reporter Nellie Bowles described a group of left-leaning Tesla owners who took issue with Musk's recent political shift, leading to mockery among Republican commentators and social media users.
"Now we're gonna play the game where because Elon Musk said 'take the red pill,' he is actually an incel ... ," Shapiro said sarcastically. "By saying 'take the red pill,' what he doesn't mean is that we need to reopen the economy in a responsible fashion, and get back to work."
NYT REPORT ABOUT ELON MUSK 'RED PILL' TWEET SPARKS MOCKERY ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Shapiro then invoked the controversial histories of other major car companies, such as Ford, Volkswagen and BMW.
"Wait until Ford owners find out that Henry Ford both liked the free market but ... was kind of a Nazi ... publishing full-on anti-Semitic propaganda and was given an award by the Nazi government in 1938," he said.
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"Wait until people find out that Volkswagon and BMW were complicit in the Nazi regime. Wait until people find out that a lot of Japanese automobile companies were involved with the Japanese imperialist government during World War II. Unbelievable!"
"What is this really?" said Shapiro. "This is, 'We have to shame Elon Musk the same way we shamed ... anybody who is in a perceived liberal occupation and who has betrayed the particular set of elites. They must be cast out like a leper!'"
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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