Tesla became the newest part of Elon Musk's business empire to make it clear that the criticism of the Chief Executive is unacceptable by firing a manager last month after he objected to a position on social media by Mr. Musk who referred to Nazi leaders.
Jared Ottmann, a manager and engineer who collaborated with Tesla's battery suppliers, said he was fired for criticizing Mr Musk for a post on X who used the names of Nazis such as Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring in a series of shield game.
“Stop Göring your enemies,” Mr. Musk wrote on January 23 and added: “I bet your Nazi did that coming.” He interrupted the pole with a laughing-while-Kristemoji.
Mr. Ottmann said on LinkedIn at the end of January that he was offended that Mr. Musk had referred 'as a joke' to Nazis responsible for genocide.
“From 2022 and especially the last week, I have informed the issue internally several times, with managers, HR, legal compliance, investor relationships,” Mr Ottmann wrote, referring to behavior by Mr. Musk that he found offensive. “And although overwhelming people offer personal support, Tesla has stopped as a company.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Musk's companies, including SpaceX and X, have a history of punishing different opinions. In 2022, SpaceX, who made rockets, fired nine employees who had called on the company to distance themselves from comments on social media by Mr. Musk, including one in which he mocks accusations of sexual harassment against him. Some of those employees later submitted unfair labor practices to the National Labor Relations Board.
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 an extreme right-wing party in Germany whose members have been fined by the government for the use of Nazi slogans. The role of Mr. Musk in the Trump government as leader of the Ministry of Government Efficiency has also made him a polarizing figure.
Signs of different opinion at Tesla are not isolated for Mr. Ottmann. Last month during a meeting in the offices of Tesla in Palo Alto, California, employees released their frustrations about the political activities of Mr. Musk, which led a manager to say that he was also discouraged by the behavior of the Chief Executive.
Mr. Ottmann confirmed on Thursday that he had been fired. He further refused to comment and referring questions to Jana Moser, a lawyer in Santa Monica, California, Mrs. Moser did not respond to a request for comment.
This fall, a SpaceX employee was fired after he had written on an internal notice board that he hoped that Mr. Musk would stop wearing work clothing during his campaign performances for Mr. Trump, said three people who were familiar with an incident. During a rally in October in Butler, Pa. For example, Mr. Musk wore a T-shirt “Occupy Mars”-that SpaceX sells in his company shop-while he jumped up and down on stage.
The employee wrote that it would not be appropriate for employees to wear political clothing to the office and that is why work clothing should not be worn during campaign events. A few days after his position, the company withdrew the access of the employee to internal systems, although it recovered the employee later after it had determined that there was no violation of the company policy, the people said.
The employee resigned weeks later. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Musk also fired employees on X who criticized him. In the aftermath of his takeover of $ 44 billion from the company, when Twitter called, in 2022, various employees criticized the billionaire on the platform. Mr. Musk Quarrel made them online with some and they were later fired.
The dismissals are at odds with the often indicated purpose of Mr. Musk to defend freedom of expression. He has offered to finance lawsuits against employers who dismiss employees because of things they have posted on X. In 2024 he financed a lawsuit for a former employee at the Payment Company block after being fired for inflammatory items that she had made on a pseudonym X account.
Investors in Tesla, the only listed company that Mr. Musk runs, are also afraid that his political activities are alienating some buyers and that he spends too much time in Washington and not enough time tackling the sale of a decrease. Shares of the company fell around 40 percent on December 17 compared to a high set.
