Musk on Thursday denied a report by BusinessInsider that he sexually harassed a flight attendant on a private jet in 2016,calling the person who made the claim a liar.
The previous day, the Tesla chief executive,in the midst of a contentious effort to buy Twitter Inc, said he would now voteRepublican instead of Democrat and called the Democrats a "party ofdivision and hate."
Tesla also was cut this week from the widelyfollowed S&P 500 ESG Index, which an index executive said was due to issuesincluding claims of racial discrimination within the company and crashes linkedto its vehicles.
Musk responded by calling such ratings aroundenvironmental, social and governance (ESG) issues a "scam," andquestioned how the index could drop an electric car firm while adding oil andgas producers.
Tesla could not immediately be reached tocomment.
While Musk has made attention-grabbingheadlines before - once calling one critic a "pedo guy" on Twitter -the latest controversies again raise the question whether his outspokennesswill tarnish his likeability. And - since Musk is so closely tied to Tesla -whether that will that hurt the carmaker"s sales, especially in California.
The left-leaning state is Tesla"s largestmarket, accounting for nearly 40% of the company"s US retail registrations lastyear, according to Experian data. Tesla sales in California were up almost 70%in the year and it had a 6.5% share of all vehicles in the state, according tothe California New Car Dealers Association.
#BoycottTesla was trending on Twitter onFriday and several people claimed they were canceling their car orders.
"In the past, I admired him for workingto build a green business that"s transformational in energy use. But he issadly becoming divisive as an attention seeking troll and I no longer trustthat he is dedicated to the quality of his products. I will cancel my Teslaorder," said J Yeh, a Twitter user who describes herself as a lawyer whohas lived in several cities including Los Angeles.
"You lost a potential customer," aTwitter user named Ute Bauer from Germany said, adding in German: "Toanyone reading this, cancel your orders."
Reuters was unable to confirm if any Teslaorders had been cancelled.
Many institutional investors may stand by Muskno matter what given the company"s strong performance, but that doesn"t meansome aren"t frustrated.
"They"re doing a lot of goodthings," said Taylor Ogan, CEO of Snow Bull Capital, which owns Teslashares. "It"s just disappointing when that is tainted by Elon Musk"santics. Elon Musk is the best thing for Tesla and the worst thing forTesla."
One Tesla employee, who asked not to beidentified, voiced frustration that Musk"s efforts outside Tesla appeared to behurting the carmaker"s stock. "The company needs to do something toaddress the issue," he said.
On Friday, Tesla shares dropped almost 9%,knocking about $66 billion off of Tesla"s stock market value and putting thestock at its lowest level since last August, with analysts citing"distraction risks" from the Twitter deal. Musk assured people onThursday Tesla was constantly on his mind.
If discussion around water coolers at workfocused on the sexual harassment claim against Musk rather than Tesla products,the end result could be "corrosive" for the Tesla brand, said JohnSmith, a former group vice president at GM who ran global product planning.
Tesla and SpaceX employees also could become"a little bit rattled and angry" because of Musk"s anti-Democraticparty comments as technology company staff in California tend to be moreliberal, said Jason Stomel, founder of tech talent agency Cadre.
Bill Nelson, administrator of NASA, whichrelies on Musk"s SpaceX to fly its astronauts to space, told Reuters onThursday that Musk has a strong team of executives at the spacecraft maker andthe agency"s partnership with the company was "going without ahitch."
And Musk still has plenty of fans online.Twitter user @JVega103 said he was a Republican who owned a Tesla and justsigned up for Tesla solar panels. "Thanks for everything you do," theuser tweeted.
That left some industry observers wonderingwhether Musk and Tesla would simply shake off these latest controversies, asthey have in the past.
"Is Elon Musk now crazy, or crazy like afox? He has earned the benefit of the doubt as he is often playing chess whenthe rest of us are playing checkers,"
