Former Rotherham Advertiser and Rochdale Observer journo, and Top Gear host, Jeremy Clarkson has reignited his decade-old feud with tech bro-turned-carmaker-turned-politician Elon Musk, which started in 2008 with a bad review of the Tesla Roadster on Top Gear.
Addressing the recent spate of protests and vandalism against Tesla vehicles and showrooms around the world in the wake of Musk’s emergence as a darling of the far right, and self-appointed scourge of government inefficiency, Clarkson wrote in his Sunday Times column at the weekend: “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. 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, and coincidentally now a key figure in his administration, is currently spearheading the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), cutting the size of the American state by, largely, sacking people.
This role, along with the billionaire’s frenetic posting on his own social media platform Twitter (latterly X), his spreading of right-wing propaganda, support for far-right parties in Europe and Naziesque salutes at political rallies, has made the man and his electric cars something of a focal point for anti-Trump and anti-fascist sentiment, and Clarkson an unlikely source od sensible comment.
READ MORE: EMI partners with Yorkshire’s Deer Shed Festival to unearth new Northern talent
“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.
He added that Musk had sued him (technicality, Tesla sued the BBC) 17 years ago after a “firm but fair” review of the Tesla Roadster was aired on Top Gear, in an early example of the billionaire’s commitment to free speech absolutism that doesn’t involve criticising him.
Asked about the review by the BBC’s Newsnight in 2013, Musk benevolently said he “wouldn’t paint all the BBC” with Top Gear’s brush.
In case you’re conflicted by this sudden conversion to common sense from Clarkson, who can usually be relied on to hate all things “woke,” he quickly returned to form with a dig at the sort of snowflakes who think destroying the planet is probably a bad idea; “What makes it so juicy is that he’s being pecked to death by the very people who put him on the pedestal in the first place. The eco hippies,” he noted.
