California lawmaker tweets ‘F*ck Elon Musk’ after threat to leave state

California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D) tweeted “F*ck Elon Musk” on Saturday evening after the Tesla CEO threatened to move the company out of the state over its stay-at-home order.

F*ck Elon Musk.

— Lorena (@LorenaSGonzalez) May 10, 2020

“California has highly subsidized a company that has always disregarded worker safety & well-being, has engaged in union busting & bullies public servants,” Gonzalez, who represents the southern San Diego area, said in a follow-up tweet on Sunday. “I probably could’ve expressed my frustration in a less aggressive way. Of course, no one would’ve cared if I tweeted that.”

California has highly subsidized a company that has always disregarded worker safety & well-being, has engaged in union busting & bullies public servants. I probably could’ve expressed my frustration in a less aggressive way. Of course, no one would’ve cared if I tweeted that.

— Lorena (@LorenaSGonzalez) May 10, 2020

Musk, who has been a vocal critic of lockdown measures in the state, said on Saturday that the company would sue a San Francisco-area county over continued restrictions on manufacturing. Days earlier, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) rolled out guidance for reopening the state’s manufacturing sector but gave some local officials the option to keep some restrictions in place.

Alameda County Health Officer Erica Pan said officials had “asked [Tesla] to wait” to reopen, adding that the company had not yet been given “the green light” to begin the process. Tesla on Thursday emailed employees about tentative plans to resume “limited operations” in Fremont, Calif., including bringing back nearly 30 percent of workers to the factory by Friday.

“Frankly, this is the final straw,” Musk tweeted. “Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future.”