There is no longer any connection between the Tesla boss and Hollywood. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cinema industry has started to boycott vehicles from the all-electric brand, of which Musk is the director. In California, we are talking about a 25% drop in sales. The fault is a sharp turn to the right, but this time on the part of the multi-billionaire.
The frantic race for the American presidential elections is playing out at all levels. Elon Musk has chosen his side by campaigning for Donald Trump. The entrepreneur even gave of himself by giving a speech of support at the Madison Square Garden meeting on October 27. A support that goes badly in the world of the 7th art, which had nevertheless embraced Teslamania head-on: “Hollywood is mainly democratic”, explains the cinema historian David Da Silva, author of the series Trump et Hollywood.
But beyond the Maga cap (“Make America great again”), it is his declarations tinged with elements of language from the American right wing that have earned him the indignation of the city of angels. “It’s an environment that is very sensitive to the issue of minorities. Elon Musk recently had very harsh words towards his transgender child. » As a reminder, in an interview on July 22, the billionaire attacked the gender transition of his daughter Vivian, persisting in using her “deadname” and talking about her as “his son Xavier”.
A Hollywood in democratic colors
For almost two years, actors have increasingly shown their disenchantment with Elon Musk. In December 2022, following the latter’s acquisition of Twitter (now X), Jim Carrey left the platform. In September 2024, actor Marlon Wayans, known for his roles in Above The Rim or Scary Movie says he wants to throw his Tesla off a cliff, in reaction to the billionaire’s transphobic comments. If Hollywood bans conservative personalities, this is not new: “Actor James Woods (Editor’s note: Casino, Virgin Suicides, Oppenheimer) had a very good rating in Hollywood. In the early 1990s, after a series of interviews where he displayed particularly conservative positions, he was sidelined in Hollywood,” says David Da Silva.
Therefore, there is little chance that Elon Musk’s latest positions will excite the cinema industry. A month ago, the head of Tesla shared on X the racist fake news spread by Donald Trump according to which Haitian migrants would kill cats to eat them.
The Republican way
If Hollywood boycotts Tesla, American cinema is not a 100% democratic space. Support for the Republican Party has never really been disqualifying. According to the film historian, “there has always been a Republican tendency within Hollywood. Otherwise, someone like Clint Eastwood wouldn’t have been able to have such a career. »
In the minority on the main Californian avenues, the Republican forces were however able to take advantage of their outsider image. In 2016, Donald Trump made it a communication strategy: “Trump uses this predominantly Democratic tendency to give himself an image ‘outside the system’, despite the fact that he himself is a product of this system,” explains David Da Silva. A strategy that Musk has clearly assimilated well, reading his post » Although the link may be broken with the Californian dream factory, with Trump, it’s mad love.