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Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday night doubled-down on his criticism of the coronavirus lockdowns that have shut down life in the United States, calling public officials’ directives to stay home “fascist.” The billionaire’s expletive-filled outburst came during Tesla’s earnings call, where the electric automaker was celebrating its third consecutive quarterly profit. On the topic …
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday night doubled-down on his criticism of the coronavirus lockdowns that have shut down life in the United States, calling public officials’ directives to stay home “fascist.”
The billionaire’s expletive-filled outburst came during Tesla’s earnings call, where the electric automaker was celebrating its third consecutive quarterly profit.
On the topic of California’s ongoing shelter-in-place order — which requires people to stay home unless they work at a business that provides essential services — Musk said he “would call it forcible imprisoning” and robbed Americans of “their constitutional rights.”
“It’s breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why they came to America or built this country,” Musk said. “What the f–k? Excuse me. Outrage.”
He continued on to add that the lockdowns will cause “great harm” to many companies, and that not all companies will be able to weather an extended shutdown as well as Tesla.
“If somebody wants to stay in their house, that’s great,” Musk said. “But saying they can’t leave their house and that they will be arrested if they do — that’s fascist.”
“That isn’t democratic,” he added. “This is not freedom. Give people back their god damn freedom.”
A representative for Tesla did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The South Africa-born executive’s comments came less than 24 hours after he lashed out against the lockdowns on Twitter to his more than 33 million followers.
“FREE AMERICA NOW,” Musk tweeted at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday.
The 48-year-old tech tycoon crowed “Bravo Texas!” in an earlier post hailing the Lone Star State for moving to reopen restaurants and retail stores this week. His praise came a week after Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the state should lift restrictions because “there are more important things than living.”
Musk also shared a Sunday op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing that severe shutdowns have not helped save many lives.
“Give people their freedom back!” Musk wrote.
