A recent YouTube review of a new Tesla model is being flooded with Nazi-themed jokes thanks to Elon Musk.
The Tesla Model Y Juniper is expected to hit the market in the next few months, so early reviews are underway. One comes from Carwow, a popular UK-based YouTube channel dedicated to all things cars.
The ten-minute review has racked up over 2.5 million views in just one week so far. But the real draw here has been the comment section, which has become completely overrun with jokes and puns mocking Tesla by tying the company to fascism.
“I love the new ‘superior race’ drive mode,” one viewer wrote. “It’s just so incredibly fast. Goes from 0 to 88 in just 1 tweet.”
“The glass roof is sure to make a lot of noise when it heils,” another added.
Why are people attacking Tesla?
The simple reason as to why people are going after Tesla like this one should be obvious after the last few years: It’s because of Elon Musk.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Tesla as a company regardless of their current CEO. Most recently, the parade of problems with the self-driving feature comes to mind. And Musk himself has been rubbing more and more people the wrong way in recent years after purchasing X.com (formerly Twitter) and ingratiating himself into the Trump administration with his advisory body, The Department of Government Efficiency, or “Doge.”
But the recent backlash revolves around a video of Musk doing a stiff-armed salute during an inauguration celebration on January 20.
Elon Musk does what looks like a Hitler salute after talking of victory at Trump inauguration, thanking supporters for assuring “the future of civilisation” pic.twitter.com/xp0kmJ5dFQ
— James Jackson (@derJamesJackson) January 20, 2025
His defenders have rationalized the gesture in every which way they can think of, from moaning about how liberals just think everyone is a Nazi now to meticulously capturing freeze frames of Democrat politicians at the exact moments their arms, in motion, happened to be at the same angle.
The opposing sentiment is that Musk has already shown us who he is. He reversed bans on pro-Nazi X accounts and has allowed them to increase their reach, he has aligned himself with a president who has credibly been accused of making pro-Hitler remarks, and his response to the current backlash has been to suggest Germany “move beyond” past guilt over the impact Nazis had on the world.
To those people, the salute has just felt like an extension of everything we’ve already seen from Musk. And if it isn’t, as someone who has now shoved his way into having government influence, he should be more cognizant of his actions and their impact.
Nazi puns flood the new Tesla Model Y review video
As Musk’s salute has made waves across the world, some of the backlash has fallen on Tesla. Polish Tourism Minister Slawomi Nitris called for a boycott of the company following Musk’s most recent remarks. In Germany, activists projected an image of Musk with his arm raised on a Tesla factory in Berlin-Brandenburg, adding “HEIL” in front of “TESLA.” In London, Tesla owners are finding their vehicles slapped with stickers that read “don’t buy swasticars.”
As evidenced by Carwow’s comment section on YouTube, the online response has been even more persistent.
Several comments also pointed out that, while Musk was initially a draw for many interested in Tesla, he has the potential to do real damage to the brand these days—especially if the internet goes so hard on this that Tesla becomes forever linked to Nazism in people’s minds.
All things considered, the time to turn that ship around may have already passed.
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