By Gabriella Barthe, Contributing Writer
Notable figure Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Flamethrower distributer, and Space Entrepreneur, appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience smoking a marijuana laced tobacco cigar Thursday, Sept. 6. Shortly after, news broke that Musk’s company Tesla had lost Chief Accounting Officer David Morton and head of human resources Gaby Toledano, Friday, Sept. 7, due to resignation. Morton had only been with the company for one month.
In the wake of these events stock for Tesla dropped six points, hitting their lowest price since 2017, prompting many around the nation to tune into the ever-expanding list of odd actions undertaken by CEO Musk.
Musk has been known to catch the attention of the public eye be it accusing a British diver of being a Pedophile during an active rescue mission – twice, despite his original apology for doing so, selling flamethrowers through the Boring Company merely because he could, or tweeting out vague references to creating underground volcano lairs.
What is uncertain is whether Musk’s actions of smoking on air or the changes in his corporate management caused Tesla’s stock price to drop. Talks had been circulating of taking Tesla private for some time, but until appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, drama surrounding Musk was starting to die down.
The internet has taken to creating their own theories on the subject matter, jumping on every opportunity they could to meme on the Musk Elon is leaving in his wake.
Musk is obviously no stranger to internet sensation status, having designed and sold personal flamethrowers aptly called The Boring Company’s “Not A Flamethrower,” and seems to be in the camp of “any publicity is good publicity”
Elon himself seemingly ignored responses to the events, going onto twitter and exclaiming “I am a business magnet” to the world on Sept. 7, along with claims that Boring Company will begin selling Bricks at 10 Cents apiece on Sept. 13 – a wild difference from the company’s previous endeavors with marketing personal flamethrowers.
Despite Musk’s position towards bad press, perhaps some of his colleagues take a different stance to bad media attention.
While cause is unclear for the reason behind Tesla’s drop in stock prices, the reaction to Musk’s continuous behavior has been commented on by many, including former CAO Morton.
After leaving the Tesla having only served as CAO for one month, Morton felt that Musk’s behavior always being in the public eye detracted from the work at hand.
It was Musk’s actions and the constant watch on the company that ultimately lead Morton to resign.
Jokes and feelings aside, the public reaction to The Joe Rogan Experience is only one thing Musk should be concerning himself with at the moment.
Legal ramifications have come into play regarding Musk’s smoking activity.
While California has legalized use of Marijuana, it is still federally illegal, prompting a large amount of concern from shareholders and board members.
Reports of the United States Air Force investigating Musk and Space X for actions undertaken on The Joe Rogan Experience began circulating soon after the news of changes to Tesla management broke.
Largely due in part to the regulations prohibiting persons with government security clearance from using drugs of any kind.
Space X has denied that there is an active investigation underway regarding Musk, though it is unclear if this could affect him or Space X in the future.
Time will tell if Musk’s corporate endeavors continue to pan out or go up in smoke in response to these events.
For now, Twitter might be the best way to keep tabs on what is happening in Elon’s world.