Jimmy Kimmel trolled Elon Musk in his March 19 monologue by appearing to suggest anti-Tesla terrorists were justified, then slowly tried to walk back his comments.
Kimmel began by mocking Musk’s interview with Sean Hannity, drawing focus on his belief that Tesla cars were being lit on fire due to widespread mental illness.
“His sales are down, his stock is down,” Kimmel said. “Last night, he was somber as he went through this with Sean Hannity.” Kimmel called out Musk for saying people were vandalizing Teslas because of “some kind of mental illness going on here, ” and took jabs at him by calling out his behavior.
“Well, let me see if I can explain it for you,” Kimmel told Musk. “When you pull out a chainsaw to celebrate firing thousands of people, they get mad.”
Kimmel continued taking sarcastic shots at Musk.
“My god, I mean, this poor guy. You do one, maybe two Nazi salutes, everybody gets all bent out of shape!” he said, calling out the billionaire for a gesture during a post-inauguration speech critics claimed was a Nazi salute.
Kimmel faced backlash from right-wing viewers after firing off similar jokes in Tuesday’s monologue. He told viewers “please don’t vandalize Tesla,” but as he uttered the words, he followed up with a long pause and sarcastic facial expression that suggested to some that he may be supportive of the idea.
The talk show host’s jokes enraged Trump supporters, who accused Kimmel of trying to incite domestic terrorism.
Late Night host Jimmy Kimmel attempts to rationalize radical leftist vandalizing and setting Teslas on fire. “Elon Musk might not care about other people, but decent Americans should. The world’s richest man, again, has been trying to drum up sympathy for himself.”
“In Las… pic.twitter.com/NmK0RP7cva
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) March 20, 2025
Kimmel didn’t address the allegations head-on, but he did backtrack some of his comments in Wednesday’s monologue.
“Here’s the thing, I get that people are upset,” Kimmel said.
“Burning a car might not be great for the environment. I don’t think that’s what they had in mind when they invented the electric car,” he quipped.
“In Las Vegas yesterday, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at a Tesla service center,” Kimmel said.
“At least five Teslas blew up, one from the Molotov and four because that’s just what Teslas do sometimes,” he said, as he threw in a zinger at Musk. (RELATED: ‘Is That What You Said?’: Kevin O’Leary Takes On Left-Wing Podcaster Who Called Tesla ‘South African-First’ Company)
Kimmel went on to say, “No one should be setting fires. You could kill somebody, you could hurt somebody. Elon Musk might not care about other people, but decent Americans should.”
