The owner of a Cybertruck that was vandalized with the word “Nazi” says she believes the offensive graffiti was targeted at Tesla boss Elon Musk.
Amanda Lopez-Lara, from the Bay Area, California, said that following the recent controversy surrounding the tech billionaire, the incident was unlikely to be a “coincidence.”
Musk has received a major backlash after he appeared onstage following Donald Trump’s inauguration and made a gesture which many have compared to a Nazi salute.
The vandalism incident occurred overnight on Wednesday, while Lopez-Lara was out at dinner in downtown Redwood City.
The Cybertruck’s cameras captured a man in a hoodie and face covering approaching the vehicle before taking out a spray can and writing the word "Nazi" on the side in large letters.
"I was shocked," Lopez-Lara told NBC Bay Area. "I immediately, for the first time in downtown Redwood City, I felt scared."
She added that believed the attack was aimed at Musk, rather than herself. "With all the social media and the news circulating, accusing him of being related to Hitler and all that, I don’t think it’s a coincidence," she said.
Lopez-Lara said that though she understands the outrage surrounding the gesture, the attack on her vehicle was “really disappointing and disheartening.”
"I went to Berkeley myself, and I fully understand standing up for what’s right. That isn’t working towards that purpose,” she said.
Musk mocked the controversy over his salute on Thursday with a series of quips on X featuring word play with the names of some of Adolf Hitler’s leading Nazis, including Rudolph Hess, Joseph Goebels, Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler.
His mockery even angered the Anti-Defamation League, which had initially come to his defense following the incident.
ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X: “We’ve said it hundreds of times before and we will say it again: the Holocaust was a singularly evil event, and it is inappropriate and offensive to make light of it ... @elonmusk, the Holocaust is not a joke.”
