Lefist actress Alyssa Milano was mocked over the weekend for revealing that she gave up her Tesla because of “white supremacy” and instead purchased an electric Volkswagen, a car company that was founded by the Nazis.
“I gave back my Tesla. I bought the VW ev. I love it,” Milano tweeted. “I’m not sure how advertisers can buy space on Twitter. Publicly traded company’s products being pushed in alignment with hate and white supremacy doesn’t seem to be a winning business model.”
Volkswagen was created in 1937 when the German government, under control of the Nazi Party, formed the state-owned company, History reports. The company was operated by the Nazi organization German Labor Front.
Milano’s tweet was instantly mocked by thousands online, including by Twitter CEO and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
“Volkswagen was literally founded by the Nazi’s and Hitler,” conservative political commentators The Hodge Twins responded to Milano, along with a clown emoji. Musk responded with a laughing emoji and a “100” emoji, signifying that he agreed with their response.
🤣💯
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 26, 2022
“Nothing says ‘I’m concerned about white supremacy’ like buying a car from a company founded by the Nazi government,” writer Mark Hemingway tweeted. “To be clear I don’t think there’s anything problematic about buying a VW in the 21st century, but if you’re virtue signaling that would be a bigger deal than buying a car from the guy who fled South Africa to avoid being conscripted in their racist army.”
Liberal Clifton Duncan responded to Milano, “If you praise Woodrow Wilson, who held screenings of ‘The Birth of a Nation’ at the White House, then brag about buying a car from a company founded by Nazis, you really should stop virtue signaling about others aligning themselves with hate and White Supremacy.”
Others also highlighted VW’s emission scandal from a few years ago where the company cheated on diesel-emissions tests after years of promoting “Clean Diesel.” The company installed software on its cars that made the cars perform compliant with federal regulations when the cars were being tested for emissions but when the vehicles were out driving on the road they produced significantly higher emissions. Felony convictions have already been secured in the criminal case against those who were involved.
Two things:
1. If you google “how did volkswagen get its name” and “who was its largest champion”, definitely be sitting down when you do that
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) November 26, 2022
Others online highlighted Milano’s past praise of Musk.
“Before it became trendy to hate Elon Musk, Alyssa Milano was his greatest fan,” writer Ian Miles Cheong tweeted. “Why are people like this?”
“Good question,” Musk responded. “Seems like NPC to PC ratio is super high!”
Before it became trendy to hate Elon Musk, Alyssa Milano was his greatest fan. Why are people like this? pic.twitter.com/HkczFrAmFQ
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 27, 2022
Seems like NPC to PC ratio is super high!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022