Sen. Mark Kelly says he's taken his 'last trip' in his Tesla. He's not the only big name to ditch the brand.
Sen. Mark Kelly is selling his Tesla, which he says feels like "a rolling billboard for a man dismantling our government and hurting people."
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- Sen. Mark Kelly is offloading his Tesla.
- He's not the first big name to do so.
- Other prominent figures have sold their Teslas over Elon Musk's actions or his support of President Donald Trump.
Sen. Mark Kelly has become the latest big name to get rid of his Tesla over Elon Musk's politics.
The Arizona Democrat posted a video Thursday marking his "last trip" driving his Tesla. He wrote in the caption that he'd bought it because it was "fast like a rocket ship" but that driving it had come to "feel like a rolling billboard for a man dismantling our government and hurting people."
"I think it's time to get rid of it," he said in the video, using an expletive to refer to Musk and saying he didn't want to drive a car designed by such a person.
He'd told reporters earlier this week that he was "looking into" selling his Tesla, though he noted "there's things I like about it."
"It's kind of cheaply built on the inside, but I love the performance," he said Tuesday.
His remarks come amid his recent dust-up with Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, who called the senator a "traitor" for visiting Ukraine.
Kelly isn't the first prominent figure to part with his Tesla. Some other big names have offloaded their Teslas because of Musk.
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The actor told vice presidential candidate Tim Walz in October that he had ditched his Tesla.
"I feel like I'm driving around [with] a Trump sticker with that car, so it's gone," he said on an episode of his hit podcast "Smartless."
"I'm so excited that every car brand now has an electric car," Bateman added.
Bateman appeared in a Hyundai ad for the carmaker's Ioniq 5 electric vehicle in 2022.
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The singer posted a video on Instagram in February showing her waving goodbye to her Tesla as it was towed away.
"My parents always said… you are who you hang out with," she wrote in the caption. "There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla."
Crow said she donated the money from the sale of her Tesla to NPR, which Musk has criticized and called to defund. NPR says it receives less than 1% of its funding directly from the federal government.
Joanne Wilson
Angel investor Joanne Wilson told Business Insider that she and her venture capitalist husband, Fred Wilson, sold their Tesla in protest of Musk's actions at DOGE.
She wrote a blog post about their decision this week.
"Was it Elon's complete disregard for human beings as he attempts to completely disrupt the federal government like a classic tech dude without a proper understanding of how government works, or was it that awful new cyber truck that looks like something out of Mad Max and looks angry?" she wrote. "It is a toss-up."
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"Tesla takedown" protests have sprung up in cities across the US in opposition to Musk's work at DOGE. Protesters are calling for Tesla owners to sell their stock and cars, and some Tesla owners have seen their vehicles get vandalized.
However, Tesla recently got at least one prominent buyer: Trump.
The President said Tuesday he'll label attacks against Tesla dealerships domestic terrorism and said he plans to buy a Tesla Model S and a Cybertruck to support Musk. In a Tuesday photo op outside the White House, he got inside a Model S and sounded impressed by its interior, saying, "Everything's computer!"
Tesla's stock has plummeted more than 50% from its December all-time high, but it rose following Trump saying he'd purchase a new Tesla.
