Musk Warns Of Lawsuits Over Media Coverage Of Tesla Cybertruck Explosion

Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned he’d consider suing media outlets over their coverage of the Cybertruck explosion that took place outside of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas Wednesday.

Musk “should consider suing outlets who framed the story like this,” conservative activist Robby Starbuck posted on X, along with a screenshot of an article about the incident from Business Insider, which is owned by Axel Springer, POLITICO's parent company. “These headlines are sabotaging @Tesla’s brand by making people think it caught on fire. There’s about 1 Tesla fire for every 130 million miles traveled. Other cars have 1 every 18 million miles.”

“Maybe it is time to do so,” Musk wrote in response.

Business Insider did not immediately respond to POLITICO's request for comment.

The Wednesday morning explosion killed the suspect inside the futuristic-looking Cybertruck, identified as an Army special operations soldier, and wounded seven bystanders. Law enforcement officials found a collection of fireworks, mortars and gas canisters in the trunk of the vehicle.

The billionaire CEO with close ties to President-elect Donald Trump has shared multiple posts on X, the social media platform he owns, criticizing media coverage of the incident and defending the vehicle’s safety.

"The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside the valet because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a news conference this week.

Musk reposted a video of the conference, writing: “The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”