Jeremy Clarkson: ‘Eco Hippies’ Who Idolized Elon Musk Have Turned on Him – and Each Other

British television presenter Jeremy Clarkson has rekindled his long-standing feud with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, focusing on the fact that the “eco hippies,” and other “deluded fools” who bought Tesla EVs have now turned on the man they once idolized.

In his latest Sunday Times column, Jeremy Clarkson, the former host of the wildly popular car shows Top Gear and The Grand Tour, took aim at Elon Musk, reigniting a feud that dates back to 2008 when Clarkson gave a critical review of a Tesla Roadster on the program. The conflict between the two personalities has resurfaced amidst the growing climate of domestic terrorism as leftist lunatics firebomb and vandalize Tesla facilities and vehicles.

Clarkson’s article highlights the irony of the situation, as many of those now vandalizing Teslas were once ardent supporters of Musk and his mission to promote electric vehicles and combat “climate change.”

Clarkson writes:

The fact, then, is this. I was always scrupulously fair with my car reviews. Musk claimed I wasn’t. And this is his payback. And 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. The net-zero disciples of Ed Miliband and Al Gore. They loved his idea of electrical cars running on nothing but wind and sunshine and they swooned when he provided his eco-fresh Starlink communication technology to those poor beleaguered soldiers in Ukraine.

He was a hero to them, and I was hated for having been so rude about his early foray into the car market. 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?

Clarkson has been an outspoken critic of EVs, including writing a column on the dangers of electric vehicles. In his latest column, he mocks the “deluded fools” who bought a Tesla to save the world:

Then you’ve got all those deluded fools who bought one of the company’s cars. They made their purchasing decision in good faith and work hard to make the payments each month. Even though I think it’s nothing more than a wheeled white good, it’s their pride and joy. So it’s not fair for someone with hairy armpits and no job to set fire to it. I mean, it’s not as if there’s a realistic eco-alternative. You try finding a fast-charging station for an electric Porsche or Mini.

Clarkson also revisited the legal battle that followed his critical 2008 review of the Tesla Roadster on Top Gear. Despite the segment featuring some praise for the vehicle’s performance, it also showcased one of the two Teslas breaking down during testing. Musk, who later stated that Clarkson’s show was “much more about entertainment than it is about truth,” unsuccessfully sued the BBC over the review. 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.”