On Saturday, Sergio Rodriguez, 41, began receiving death threats from Tesla fans on social media after driving his Ford Mustang Mach-E across the US, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Rodriguez, a Tesla owner himself, had positive things to say about the experience, despite the fact that fans of Tesla’s electric vehicles (EVs) didn’t share his point of view.
It’s annoying. I’ve had some message me death threats over my joy with the Mach-E. You would swear Tesla was their great auntie or other kinfolk. Some of them are complacent with the the defect and just want to be part of the cult…. I mean club. https://t.co/U128qnULYY
— Sergio Rodriguez (@LyftGyft) April 3, 2021
Beginning with a tweet Saturday by Jace Craft-Miller saying, “All these Tesla fanbois reach out saying how they hate the Mach-E … blah blah,” to which Rodriguez replied, “I’ve had them message me death threats over my joy with the Mach-E.”
Ford Recalls 1,258 Mustang Mach-E Vehicles in the U.S. and Canada https://t.co/8jqr2WusZA
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) March 7, 2021
In particular, Rodriguez was growing concerned by comments on the Tesla Owners Worldwide private Facebook page, after being tagged once in a post about a Mustang Mach-E, starting a long series of comments bashing Rodriguez, although he had not been involved in the original post.
Rodriguez, a US Army veteran, also owns a Tesla Model X, which is how he became involved with the online Tesla communities. Still, after being rattled by those same communities, Rodriguez has even considered getting rid of his Model X so as not to be a part of the communities any longer.
Rodriguez said, “Part of me wants to get rid of my Tesla just not to have the association. A couple here and there, OK. But folks are commenting and saying disgusting things. ‘You let big oil buy you?’ and ‘How much are people paying you?’ If that’s what’s associated with being a Tesla owner, why do I want to be part of that group? It’s not cool.”
The debate between the Tesla Model Y and the Mustang Mach-E has been raging across the internet since the Mach-E’s release last year, though, in 2021, it’s probably safe to expect these kinds of debates to escalate to the worst on social media – as unfortunate as that may be.
