Bette Midler Severs Ties with Tesla, Torches Elon Musk in Viral Rant: ‘I Refuse to Drive a Symbol of Greed, Racism, and Ignorance!
Bette Midler, 79, gleefully announced on April 2 that she ditched her Tesla and instantly felt a weight lifted off her shoulders.
The Divine Ms. M’s decision comes in response to Musk’s crusade to slash federal spending and downsize thousands of jobs as the de facto head of DOGE.
Midler is the latest voice to join the chorus against the electric car maker, which recently saw sales plummet to their lowest level in three years in a backlash over its controversial boss. Anti-Musk protestors have demonstrated outside dealerships across the nation, and some protests have devolved into vandalism, including destroying charging stations and setting Cybertrucks ablaze.
On March 18, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi branded the vandalism as “domestic terrorism,” and the FBI quickly launched a task force to crack down.
In the meantime, high-rolling (and high-profile) Tesla owners are making a point of dumping their cars.
“What a joyful day!” the legendary performer exclaimed on Instagram and Bluesky on April 2. “I sold my (gulp) Tesla!”
“No longer do I have to drive a symbol of racism, greed, and ignorance! Life is suddenly so much better!!!” the “Hocus Pocus” actress wrote on April 3.
It seems Midler lost her love for the brand ever since Election Day. In November, after Trump won the presidency with Elon glued to his side, Midler posted a humorous showdown between the Cybertruck and a Hearse on her Instagram, with the caption “hearse > cybertruck.”
Then, on Feb. 16, the “Beaches” star reposted a video of musician Sheryl Crow waving goodbye to her Tesla as it was being towed away. Her fellow songstress said she would donate all the proceeds from the sale to NPR (National Public Radio), a frequent target of conservatives for decades.
“My parents always said… you are who you hang out with. There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with,” Crow wrote on Instagram. “So long Tesla.”
It’s no surprise Midler is ditching her vehicle, too. She and Trump have exchanged insults and sparred online for years at least since 2012.
In 2019, Trump called Midler a “washed-up psycho” and “a sick scammer” on what was then Twitter after she misattributed a quote to him, saying he referred to Republicans as “the dumbest group of voters.”
Washed up psycho @BetteMidler was forced to apologize for a statement she attributed to me that turned out to be totally fabricated by her in order to make “your great president” look really bad. She got caught, just like the Fake News Media gets caught. A sick scammer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2019
During Trump’s 2022 presidential campaign announcement, she live-tweeted a succession of sharp criticisms. “Ugh. Piggy is speaking,” she wrote. Then she poked fun at Trump’s erstwhile tagline, “Make America Great and Glorious Again,” saying, “IT’S OFFICIAL! The new name for its campaign is #MAGAGA! Congratulations to whoever got there first, let’s take it all the way!! #MAGAGA.”
Midler, who publicly backed Kamala Harris, took to X again on election night, joking that she’d celebrate with Champagne if Harris won — or Draino if Trump was elected. Once the winner became clear, she deactivated her X account.
Now she joins actor Jason Bateman, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arixona, and others throughout the country who are selling off Teslas in protest.
“We took a $10k hit to get out of ours – best decision we’ve ever made,” wrote one commenter on her Instagram post. “I traded mine in too! Not the best financial decision for me, but I felt better about myself!” another said on Bluesky.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s shares went into a freefall last week, along with the rest of the global stock market. But amid the protests and the volatility, Musk has managed to hold his place at the top of Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List despite all the bumps in the road.