Tesla CEO Elon Musk has received criticism after one former employee claims they were fired from the electric vehicle manufacturer following a LinkedIn post that pushed back against a Nazi-related joke post from its owner.

While it’s typically Elon Musk‘s own posts that end up getting him in trouble, in this particular instance it’s how he has reacted to another’s response that many have found issue with.

Musk remains quick to criticise others on social media when he sees fit, targeting television shows like SNL, multiple major news publications, and even the infamous hacking group Anonymous if he believes that they’ve spoken out of turn.

He’s also a self-professed defender of free speech principles – one of the key reasons why he purchased Twitter, now X, for $44 billion – declaring in the past that “free speech is meaningless unless you allow people you don’t like to say things you don’t like, otherwise it’s irrelevant.”

Musk has been accused of firing an employee after they posted dissenting views (Nora Tam/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)

Recent actions appear to have breached these ideals though, as one now-former Tesla employee has detailed how they were fired from the company for posting a dissenting view of Musk, as reported by The New York Times.

Jared Ottmann was previously a manager and engineer working with Tesla’s battery suppliers, and he outlined his opposition and distaste for Musk’s use of Nazi references in a ‘joke’ post on X.

Musk employed puns involving the names of key Nazi figures such as Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Hermann Göring, adding: “Bet you did nazi that coming [laughing emoji].”

Ottmann wrote in response: “Well, we have seen it coming. Elon’s behavior, whatever the underlying motivations, are well documented.

“Starting in 2022 and especially the last week I’ve raised the issue internally multiple times, with managers, HR, legal compliance, investor relations. And while overwhelmingly people offer support, Tesla as a company has remained silent.”

He then continued to outline that “this post by Tesla’s current CEO name drops genocidal a**holes as a joke and has 308,000 likes,” adding that “the silence from Tesla is deafening.”

Ottmann then confirmed last Thursday, February 27, that he had been fired from the company, although he has not offered any further statement in reference to his dismissal.

Musk has been criticized for his far right political leanings, including an alleged Nazi salute (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

Both Musk’s post on X and Ottmann’s firing come at a time when the Tesla CEO is under heavy fire for his far right political leanings.

Not only has been been criticized for his new role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, but he controversially appeared to use a Nazi salute at the presidential inauguration, although he has since denied this.

On top of this, Musk has retained strong support for far right German political party AfD, who themselves have been fined for using Nazi slogans, leading the tech mogul to be criticized by the head of a concentration camp memorial.

This is far from the first time that Musk has been accused of firing employees with dissenting beliefs, and it continues for many to challenge his maintained stance as a ‘defender’ of free speech and First Amendment principles.

Elon Musk’s brother has sold off $28 million in Tesla stock after it lost its trillion dollar company status.

Kimbal Musk is the brother of the tech billionaire and is also a director at Tesla but despite his close ties to the business, Kimbal sold 75,000 shares.

This has trimmed his share of the company down to 1.46 million shares, which are worth around $514 million.

Kimbal Musk has sold a chunk of Tesla shares (Chris Saucedo/Getty Images for SXSW)

It also means that his stake in the electric vehicle firm is down by just under 5%.

Tesla stock value has plummeted in recent weeks, with sales dropping by 45% in January.

As the stock continues to drop in value, the company has officially lost its ranking as a trillion dollar company.

Many have speculated this is due to Musk’s new role in the Trump administration after he took on the job as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

While not technically a government department, the group is said to act as an outside advisor on federal spending.

Musk himself promised to slash trillions from the federal budget and has been at the center of controversy since his appointment.

There was public outrage when Musk and his DOGE team were granted full access to the Treasury payment system.

Fears have grown that the SpaceX CEO could have access to the confidential data of millions of Americans, including social security and Medicare benefits payments.

It looks like some people who have invested in Tesla have decided to sell up to avoid the risk of more financial loss due to plummeting stocks.

And one person shedding their stocks is none other than Kimbal.

The Musk brothers once co-founded their own software company together, Zip2, back in 1995.

It has been claimed by ex-employees that Trump’s ‘first buddy’ was known for having a temper back then.

Speaking to the BBC, former Zip2 vice president Jim Ambras said that Musk would spend the evenings ‘looking to see who was sitting at their cubes, and there weren’t many people sitting at their cubes — it was 9 pm’.

He continued: “And his face turned red, he was really angry that the entire company wasn’t there in the office at 9 o’clock at night.”

Another employee, former Zip2 systems engineer Branden Spikes, told the BBC that Musk would often work late into the night and fall asleep under his desk.

Spikes also described Musk as being an ‘unusual fellow’ and a ‘know-it-all’, adding that the tech mogul thought he knew ‘just about everything about everything’.

Elon Musk takes a $100 billion hit as Tesla shares slide, stripping it of its trillion-dollar status.

The 53-year-old sits comfortably as the world’s richest person but things aren’t looking as positive for his electric car company.

Since mid-December, the Tesla CEO’s net worth has dropped by more than $100 billion as Tesla’s stock continues its downward spiral.

On Tuesday (25 February), Tesla shares fell another 8%, closing at $302.80, marking a 25% decline so far this year.

The data shows Tesla’s vehicle registrations in Europe plummeted by 45% in January compared to the previous year, even as overall EV sales on the continent increased. Additionally, sales in China seem to show a downward trend.

Some analysts believe European buyers are turning away from Tesla due to Musk’s deep involvement in the Trump administration, which is currently straining US-Europe relations.

Andrew Harnik / Staff / Getty

Others are saying investors are cashing out after Tesla’s massive gains over the past year. Despite the recent slump, the stock has increased 52% in the last 12 months. Gary Black, managing partner at The Future Fund investment group, warned that Tesla shares could slide even further this year given the company’s direction on 2025 vehicle deliveries.

Musk’s influence stretches far beyond Tesla – he also leads SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink, and AI company xAI, not to mention his controversial role in the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.

But Tesla investors have long accepted Musk’s multiple responsibilities and they’ve also credited his leadership for the company’s success. So if anything, they view him as more than capable of juggling multiple ventures.

However, events like the recent robotaxi reveal don’t show overwhelming positive feedback. The I, Robot event, back in October, left many investors and Wall Street analysts unimpressed, saying it ‘disappointed expectations in several areas.’

The I, Robot event in October left many investors unimpressed / Sjoerd van der Wal / Contributor / Getty

As a result, Tesla’s stock fell by roughly 15%, and since Musk owned around 13% of the company at the time, his net worth took a hit as well.

Furthermore, Elon Musk and Tesla are being sued by the production company behind Blade Runner 2049 over the robotaxi design.

Nonetheless, Musk continues to roll out new Tesla models, adapting to shifting driver preferences, and the company is also expanding its full self-driving technology into China.

“Tesla’s superior products, new more affordable vehicle, which I believe will be a new form factor and expand Tesla’s total addressable market, and the promise of unsupervised autonomy will sell more Teslas,” Black wrote on X.

At the time of writing, the tech billionaire’s net worth sits at $379.9 billion but it’s still a massive $144 billion richer than the second-richest person in the world, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Elon Musk continues to cause chaos for federal employees by issuing a second ultimatum on the back of his controversial email.

Alongside enforcing the President’s return-to-office mandates, Musk sent an email to federal workers on February 22, requiring them to justify their roles. The workers were to list five completed tasks from the past week before the deadline of February 24 at 11:59 pm EST – or face termination.

On Saturday (February 22), the Tesla CEO sent a government-wide email to all employees warning that those who failed to respond would no longer have a job to return to. Musk later admitted that the email was a test to see which employees ‘had a pulse,’ suggesting that those who ignored it lacked basic competence.

“This was basically a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email,” the 53-year-old continued. “This mess will get sorted out this week. Lot of people in for a rude awakening and strong dose of reality.

“They don’t get it yet, but they will.”

Musk then doubled down on his stance, posting on X that the failure to reply was a waste of taxpayer money.

“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send! Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers,” he argued. “Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent?”

Now, he’s giving those who ignored the first email one more chance, writing on X: “Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance.

“Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”

Understandably, the callouts weren’t received well by everyone.

Alex Wong / Staff / Getty

One senior Defense Department official told CNN that it was the ‘silliest’ thing they’d ever seen in their career.

Meanwhile, the new FBI director Kash Patel reportedly advised employees not to respond to the emails – which led to confusion within multiple agencies.

“The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses,” his message read. For now, please pause any responses.”

To make matters worse, Donald Trump agreed with the aggressive approach, warning that employees who did not respond would be ‘semi-fired’ or ‘fired.’

The President added on his social media platform, Truth Social: “A lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.”