SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk isn’t backing down from his criticism of social distancing measures, especially in California, where one of his major factories is located.
During an earnings call Wednesday, the tech entrepreneur sounded off on steps taken to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, including stay-at-home orders, closures of nonessential businesses, and guidelines for social distancing.
“If somebody wants to stay in their house, that’s great,” Musk said, according to a recording of the call reviewed by CBS News. “They can stay in their house and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.
“We are a little bit worried about not being able to resume production in the Bay Area and that should be identified as a serious risk,” he continued. “We only have two car factories right now, one in Shanghai and one in the Bay Area.”
Musk has blasted the stay-at-home orders in recent days on Twitter, saying, “FREE AMERICA NOW,” and, “Give people their freedom back!”
The stay-at-home orders forced one of his Tesla factories to close on March 23, and the order was extended until the end of May.
“The extension of the shelter-in-place or frankly what I would call it, forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights … my opinion … and breaking people’s freedom in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country,” Musk said. “What the f—? Excuse me. Outrage. So it will cause great harm, not just to Telsa, but many companies. And while Tesla will weather the storm there are many small companies that will not.”
