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Elon Musk’s detractors need to stop the character assassination
Elon Musk’s detractors, especially those working in the mainstream media, need to stop the character assassination.
As a writer, I feel that we should not use our positions to tear down individuals just because we may not like them. And this, I believe, is what many in the mainstream media are doing.
The WSJ article, to me, seems like character assassination
The recent article published in the Wall Street Journal claiming that Elon Musk had an “alleged affair” with the wife of Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, is what I think is one example of a character assassination attempt.
Yeah, the character assassination attacks have reached a new level this year, but the articles are all nothing-burgers.
I work crazy hours, so there just isn’t much time for shenanigans.
None of the key people involved in these alleged wrongdoings were even interviewed!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2022
Although I shared my thoughts about this, it’s been over a day now and I find it incredibly disturbing that many in the media seemed to not care about the truth. Even after Elon Musk shared a photo of himself with Sergey Brin on friendly terms, taken after the supposed falling out.
Character assassination over truth
It seems that the collective hatred of Elon Musk takes priority over the truth. What I mean by this is that many people seem to not care about the facts. The facts are that Elon Musk wrote that this incident never happened and he showed photographic proof of his friendship with Sergey Brin.
Yet these unknown sources that WSJ cited didn’t even have any photographic evidence. Or if they did, they kept it to themselves for whatever reason and I doubt this is the case.
And although the majority of the reports have been either revised or updated, the damage has already been done.
Elon Musk Warned Of This
Elon Musk warned that this would happen. No, not that the WSJ piece itself would happen, but he did say that there would be political attacks on him that will escalate dramatically in the coming months.
Political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in coming months
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022
Although this attack on him over his personal life isn’t political, there have been many other character assassination attempts on Elon Musk over the past several years. And these attempts influence the average person.
Whether it’s on TikTok, Facebook, or in person, people seem to think that Elon Musk is a bad person. I’ve had friends disown me over my support for him and tell me that I am a bad person. Or that I’ve lost touch over a “billionaire who doesn’t care about you.”
For someone who doesn’t care about me, Elon sure cared when I told him I was nervous when I met him. You can listen to what he said to me in the tweet below.
Short & sweet sound bite from my interview with Elon that won’t be in the podcast.
I was nervous and he was opening fudge I got him from Buccees (hence loud paper sounds)
He wanted to feed @GailAlfarATX and me lol.
Elon is so nice. Good ppl. pic.twitter.com/tbWty5BoEe
— Johnna (@JohnnaCrider1) June 27, 2022
New level of character assassination attacks
Elon Musk pointed out that the character assassination attacks on him have reached a new level this year. This is true and I’ve seen it with my own eyes. He pointed out that the articles aren’t that important and regarding the WSJ article, none of the key people mentioned were even interviewed.
Yeah, the character assassination attacks have reached a new level this year, but the articles are all nothing-burgers.
I work crazy hours, so there just isn’t much time for shenanigans.
None of the key people involved in these alleged wrongdoings were even interviewed!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2022
Elon shared another thought on Twitter about this.
He said that the amount of attention on him has gone supernova. He added that he will do his best to focus on doing useful things for civilization, which is a passion of his.
The amount of attention on me has gone supernova, which super sucks. Unfortunately, even trivial articles about me generate a lot of clicks 🙁
Will try my best to be heads down focused on doing useful things for civilization.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2022
Elon Musk cares about humanity and civilization.
During my interview with Elon Musk earlier this month, he spoke fervently about helping people. We spoke about his work with the Musk Foundation, Starlink, and disaster relief. He shared that one key way to help with poverty is to improve literacy.
“Literacy and access to internet, I think, are fundamentally helpful. Really, we’ve got to think beyond the United States. There are billions of people who have no internet connectivity at all–nothing. Or it’s like a very low bandwidth and it’s insanely expensive. For many parts of the world, this is the case–billions of people.”
He spoke more at length about these topics and you can listen to our interview here.
The Character Assassination of Elon Musk needs to stop.
To be quite honest, I find it disturbing that so many in the media are consumed with hatred of Elon Musk to the point that they seem to have lost all of their senses. They complain about his “behavior” while not even acknowledging that most of the time, Elon is standing up for himself.
Elon Musk isn’t the type of person to let people just walk all over him or mistreat him. He fights back and his detractors don’t like this. This is why many of us in the Tesla community is referred to as a cult.
This is a tactic often used by many of Elon Musk’s detractors. They use these terms to dehumanize supporters so that our thoughts and opinions are rendered valueless.
This needs to stop.
Disclaimer: Johnna is a partial Tesla shareholder with under 1 share currently. She plans on buying more and supports Tesla and its mission.
If you have a tip, feel free to send them to johnna@teslarati.com
Featured
Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins
Tesla Asia says Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai this month.
Tesla’s Cybercab is heading to Asia. The official Tesla Asia account posted on X Thursday, inviting Cybercab fans to “Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai.” The post went up within hours of Tesla’s own Cybercab milestone in Texas, where the company said Thursday it had begun offering rides in across Austin.
Exact dates and venues for the Asia tour haven’t been released yet, though Tesla Hong Kong replied to the announcement with “Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong soon,” while Tesla Japan’s response pointed fans to a sign up page for updates. Neither post mentions test rides or a service area, and nothing so far suggests Tesla is launching Robotaxi operations in any of the four cities. Based on how Tesla has run past Cybercab tours, in Europe in late 2024 and at US shopping centers that same December, the Asia stops are almost certainly static displays at Tesla stores or public venues as a means to stimulate buzz for its future driverless ride-hailing service in the big cities.
Cybercab will be on display in Asia this month!
Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai. pic.twitter.com/wGmmEastfX— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) September 4, 2026
The timing lines up with Tesla’s only prior Cybercab appearance in the region, a booth at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last November, which Teslarati covered at the time. At that event, Tesla’s regional general manager for Shanghai framed the car as evidence of the company’s broader mission, a message Tesla has since formalized in its Master Plan Part IV, which states that “autonomous vehicles have the capacity to dramatically improve the affordability, availability and safety of transportation while reducing pollution, particularly in our increasingly dense global cities.” The same document is where Tesla lays out its “sustainable abundance” framing for Cybercab and Optimus alike, describing the two as the hardware behind an AI driven push to cut the cost of transportation and labor at scale.
Whether Cybercab actually operates as a robotaxi anywhere in Asia remains an open question, considering China has already pushed an autonomous ride-hailing market that’s run on homegrown players like Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony AI. For now, the four city tour reads as a marketing push timed to Austin’s momentum.
Lifestyle
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.
Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.
The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.
Tailgate Utility Trackhttps://t.co/PCAYXlFBvS pic.twitter.com/sCV2NVxf1W
— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) September 3, 2026
The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.
Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory
Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.
Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.
Update: Tesla has announced Cybercab will enter the public fleet on Friday, September 4 at 5 p.m. CT. The article and headline have been updated to reflect this.
Tesla Cybercab rides will officially open to the public in Austin, Texas, on Friday, September 4 at 5 p.m. CT, as the company confirmed on Thursday following its launch event that the two-seater would be available in the company’s Robotaxi fleet.
Cybercab is Tesla’s first vehicle completely void of any manual controls. It has no steering wheel and no pedals, and it will utilize Tesla’s Full Self-Driving fleet to operate. The first rides have already happened, as those at the event were able to hail a Cybercab to any location within the company’s geofence in Austin.
Tesla’s $25K car is the Cybercab with no steering wheel or pedals
The addition of Cybercab to the public Robotaxi fleet is a major statement in Tesla’s trek to launch fully autonomous driving. For years, critics have complained about the need for drivers to continuously supervise the vehicle.
With Cybercab, there are no manual controls in the cockpit other than to control the seat, the center screen, and the climate. The vehicle is fully geared toward being a living room on wheels in a sense: equipped with Starlink V5 satellites, CEO Elon Musk said the vehicle would enable 4K live video, gaming, and other entertainment options during travel.
Cybercab is basically a super comfortable lounge on wheels with a great TV and epic sound https://t.co/X1aWKoJdJV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 3, 2026
Musk noted that Cybercab is “designed and built for maximally efficient autonomous operation.”
Tesla continues to push the envelope on autonomy, and over the next several months, the company could start selling Cybercab units to the public.
The company opened up a public interest form on its website to gauge demand, and many have already submitted requests to purchase a fleet of Cybercab units for their own personal ride-hailing side hustle.
The launch of Cybercab in this area marks a major accomplishment for Tesla, as it also announced that it has reached 1 million unsupervised autonomous miles since launching driverless rides on the Robotaxi fleet.
Things are moving along at a fine pace, and although we have waited for this for some time, the day has finally come when Tesla is offering self-driving rides of some kind to the public.
Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
