Elon Musk is threatening to sue media companies over coverage of the Cybertruck explosion that took place outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.
The blast happened early Wednesday morning in front of the hotel’s main entrance, a short drive from the Las Vegas Strip. The suspect inside the car was killed and seven bystanders were injured. Officials later said they found a collection of fireworks, mortars and gas canisters in the car’s trunk.
The act was intentional, police said, and the car was parked when the explosion occurred. Police are not sure how the car ignited. The investigation remains ongoing. Video of the incident was caught on surveillance footage and shared across social media.
An X commenter named Robby Starbuck suggested Musk, the CEO of Tesla, which manufactures Cybertrucks, sue media outlets that tied the attack to his product, stating headlines are “sabotaging Tesla’s brand by making people think it caught on fire.”
The post featured a screenshot of a Business Insider article with the headline “Tesla Cybertruck explosion in front of Trump hotel in Las Vegas leaves 1 dead, 7 injured.”
“There’s about one Tesla fire for every 130 miles traveled,” the X commenter wrote. “Other cars have one every 18 million miles.”
In response to the post about litigation, Musk wrote: “Maybe it is time to do so.”
The CEO, who has been tapped to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, holds a deep disdain for mainstream media entities and has campaigned to defund public service news outlets. Additionally, he has suspended journalists from X, the platform he owns, and has removed verification badges.
Following the explosion, which occurred the same day as a terrorist attack in New Orleans that resulted in the deaths of 14 people, Musk criticized media coverage of the incident and defended the luxury car’s safety.
But Las Vegas officials appeared to credit the car with containing the explosion’s impact.
Speaking to reporters this week, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said: “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.”
The Tesla CEO posted a video of the remarks and wrote: “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.”
Police have not conclusively determined the Cybertruck explosion was a terrorist incident. Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old army veteran from Colorado Springs, has been named as the suspect in the case.
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