Jeremy Clarkson taunts ‘idiot’ Elon Musk over Tesla vandalism

British broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson has reignited a feud with carmaker-turned-political figure Elon Musk that started in 2008 with a bad review of a Tesla car on motoring show Top Gear.

People in the United States and around the world have in recent weeks been vandalizing Tesla vehicles and showrooms in response to the prominence and actions of Musk, who owns Tesla, within the United States government.

“The sudden pan-global decision to uncrowdfund Tesla and to break the door mirrors off as many of its cars as possible is not funny,” Clarkson wrote in his Sunday Times column. “But also, it’s kinda hilarious. Especially if you’re me.”

Musk, the largest political donor to U.S. President Donald Trump’s successful 2024 election campaign, has assumed a loosely defined government role in which he spearheads efforts within the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut the size of the American state.

This role, along with the billionaire’s antagonistic posting on social media, his boosting of far-right propaganda and the Nazi-style salute he gave in public shortly after Trump’s election, has made him a lightning rod for anti-Trump sentiment and his products a target of protestors.

“Things are so bad that a friend of mine who was trying to save the world (and a few quid on the congestion charge) has now fitted a sticker to his Tesla saying he bought it before he knew Musk was an idiot,” Clarkson wrote.

Clarkson said Musk had sued him (actually, Tesla sued the BBC) 17 years ago after a “firm but fair” review of the Tesla Roadster was aired on Top Gear, which at the time was one of the most popular television shows in the United Kingdom and around the world.

The 10-minute segment was at times scathing — with Clarkson showcasing his trademark anti-environmentalist views concerning “brown rice eco-cars” — but also included some praise for the “biblically quick” Roadster. During a test, however, one of the two Tesla cars featured broke down.

Asked about the review by the BBC’s Newsnight in 2013, Musk said he “wouldn’t paint all the BBC with Top Gear’s brush; I’m actually a great fan of the BBC,” before adding: “Clarkson’s show is much more about entertainment than it is about truth. I think most people realize that, but not everyone.”

“I’ve actually enjoyed a lot of his shows: It’s not as though I just hate Top Gear or anything. He can be very funny and irreverent, but he does have a strong bias against electric cars.”

People in the United States and around the world have in recent weeks been vandalizing Tesla vehicles and showrooms in response to the prominence and actions of Elon Musk. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images

In his Times article, Clarkson wrote: “He lost the case, and the appeal, and he’s never really got over it. He still claims I was biased and that we pretended his car had broken down when it hadn’t. Even though it had. I should really have sued him back, but I feared he’d call me a paedo, so instead I just waited on the river bank for his body to float past. And now it has.”

The Grand Tour presenter saves much of his scorn in the article for left-wing, environment-conscious consumers who bought Teslas before Musk’s political transformation from a save-the-world space enthusiast into a leading figure of the global alt-right.

“He was a hero to them, and I was hated for having been so rude about his early foray into the car market,” Clarkson wrote. “How could I have been so nasty to that kind and philanthropic Mr Musk? Yeah, and how do you feel now as you sit in your Tesla while an army of like-minded souls kick its door mirrors off?”

“I’d love to remind all you Tesla drivers that I warned you 17 years ago that no good would come of your buying choice,” Clarkson wrote. “But you didn’t listen. You chose to believe Mr Musk.”