Elon Musk’s leadership at Tesla is facing one of its most public and personal internal rebellions to date, as a former manager claims he was fired simply for daring to suggest that Musk should no longer run the company. In a bold LinkedIn post and via a grassroots employee-led campaign, former Tesla operations manager Matthew LaBrot has blown the lid off what many insiders have long whispered in private: Elon Musk is no longer the asset he once was to Tesla, and continuing under his leadership could do more harm than good.
LaBrot’s public statement comes at a time when Tesla is navigating a crisis of confidence. The company is expected to report its second consecutive year of declining quarterly sales, a shocking turnaround for what was once the undisputed leader of the electric vehicle market.
But while analysts cite increasing competition, high interest rates, and market saturation as contributing factors, there’s a growing contingent of employees and investors pointing the finger at one man—Elon Musk.
“I was fired from my dream job at Tesla,” LaBrot wrote in a candid LinkedIn post. “My job performance, and my team’s performance, had nothing to do with my termination.” According to LaBrot, he was dismissed not for underperformance or misconduct, but for promoting a website called Tesla Employees Against Elon, a platform urging the company to cut ties with Musk as CEO.
The website presents a damning critique of Musk’s recent behavior, both as a businessman and a political figure. “The damage done to Elon’s personal brand is now irreversible and as the public face of Tesla, that damage has become our burden,” reads one statement on the site. “We are now at a crossroads: continue with Elon as CEO and face further decline as customers abandon the brand, or move forward without him and allow our products and mission to succeed or fail on their own.”
This isn’t just internal venting—it’s a public relations crisis with potentially massive consequences. The timing is crucial: Tesla’s first quarter of 2025 was disastrous. The company saw a near 50 percent drop in its market capitalization, plunging from its $1.54 trillion peak in late 2024 to approximately $777 billion by the end of March. In investor terms, that’s not a correction—it’s an implosion.
Tesla’s plummeting stock performance and sluggish sales haven’t occurred in a vacuum. Musk’s highly public friendship with president Donald Trump and his brief, controversial leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have turned off swaths of customers and investors.
Protests outside Tesla dealerships and online calls to boycott the brand have intensified. Critics argue that Musk's political posturing and volatile public persona have tainted Tesla’s image, turning a company once associated with innovation and climate action into a symbol of ideological extremism.
LaBrot, who worked at Tesla for nearly six years and rose through the ranks to a management position, said he couldn’t stay silent any longer. “Many current and former employees feel the same but don’t feel safe saying so,” he wrote in his LinkedIn post, adding that the culture inside Tesla had shifted from mission-driven collaboration to authoritarian allegiance to Musk.
The website he promoted doesn’t mince words. While acknowledging Musk’s early contributions to the company, it asserts that those accomplishments no longer justify his continued presence at the helm. “We want to be clear: none of this erases the impact Elon has had on Tesla’s journey,” the statement continues.
“He helped create something extraordinary. The mission we’re fighting for exists in large part because of his early vision. But that doesn’t mean he’s the right person to lead us forward now. In fact, it’s clear he’s not.”
Tesla has yet to respond publicly to LaBrot’s firing or the statements made on the website, but the silence is deafening. Internally, several employees reportedly fear retaliation for associating with the movement, and the story is beginning to garner attention from financial analysts and media alike.
“This could be the canary in the coal mine,” one industry observer noted. “If insiders are now going public with this kind of criticism, it tells you just how toxic things have become inside Tesla.”
The cultural fallout is also manifesting in unexpected places. Legendary musician Neil Young, a longtime environmentalist and critic of corporate greenwashing, recently released a satirical protest song believed to be titled Let’s Roll Again. In it, he takes aim directly at Tesla and its buyers.
“If you’re a fascist, get a Tesla / It’s electric, it doesn’t matter,” he sings mockingly, before adding: “Build us something that runs real clean / Come on America, let’s get in the race / China’s way ahead, they’re making clean cars.”
Musk, as ever, responded with characteristic sarcasm, posting “Neil Olde” on X (formerly Twitter) in what appeared to be a dismissive jab at the 79-year-old musician. But the mockery didn’t stop the backlash. The song has gone viral on social media, further cementing the cultural perception of Tesla as a brand caught in political and ideological crossfire.
Yet, in a strange twist of fate, the company’s stock ticked upward this week following news of a temporary trade truce between the United States and China. Tesla shares rose 6.8 percent on the day the announcement was made, providing a small glimmer of hope in what has otherwise been a grim financial year.
Still, the broader trend remains troubling. Tesla’s valuation has been nearly halved in just four months. Major institutional investors are reportedly re-evaluating their positions. And now, with credible voices from inside the company warning of a leadership crisis, pressure is mounting for Tesla’s board to take action.
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So far, there’s no indication that Musk intends to step aside, and given his controlling stake in the company, any such decision would likely have to come from him. But if the chorus of discontent grows louder—and more employees like LaBrot choose to speak up—the narrative around Musk could shift dramatically. What was once seen as visionary leadership is increasingly being painted as a liability.
For LaBrot, the fallout has already cost him his job. But his message may resonate far beyond his own termination. “This wasn’t about me,” he wrote. “It’s about the future of Tesla, and whether we’re willing to risk everything we’ve built for the sake of one man’s ego.”
As Tesla continues to navigate the treacherous road ahead—balancing investor expectations, customer sentiment, political scrutiny, and internal dissent—the question is no longer whether Musk is a genius or a villain. It’s whether he’s the right leader for Tesla’s future. And if Matthew LaBrot’s story is any indication, the answer from inside the company is becoming harder and harder to ignore.
