Hundreds gather outside Tesla showrooms in backlash to Elon Musk’s role with DOGE

There will be more than 80 protests on Saturday and another 76 are already listed to take place through the end of April, according to the Tesla Takedown organizing website.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered nationwide outside Tesla showrooms Saturday amid heightened criticism against CEO Elon Musk’s federal cost-cutting role in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and after Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed to crack down on vandalism against Tesla. The demonstrations are part of the “Tesla Takedown” movement, a boycott that began on February 15 against Musk’s electric vehicle company. The campaign was started by Hollywood actor and filmmaker Alex Winter, and Joan Donovan, an assistant professor of Journalism and Emerging Media Studies at Boston University. DOGE has slashed thousands of government jobs, and this week it proposed a dramatic downsizing of the IRS that would result in a nearly 20% reduction of its workforce by May 15. More than 80 demonstrations are slated for Saturday and more than 70 are planned through the end of April, according to the Tesla Takedown website. The movement wants people to “sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines.” Tesla did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. In the Boston suburb of Dedham, about 100 demonstrators gathered outside a Tesla showroom. The Philadelphia suburb of West Chester had a similar turnout. Baltimore saw one of the biggest turnouts with at least 300 demonstrators In Washington, DC, more than 50 demonstrators had gathered by noon outside a Tesla showroom, holding signs and dancing to songs by Beyoncé and Daft Punk as passing drivers honked their horns in support. The number of demonstrators on the gloomy and chilly day was a sharp uptick from the turnout about two weeks ago at the same Georgetown location.