It's impossible to deny at this point that Elon Musk has inflicted catastrophic damage to Tesla's brand and hurt its sales. But this, apparently, is an opinion employees aren't allowed to express. 

That was the experience of Matthew LaBrot, a now-former Tesla staff program manager who says he was immediately fired from his "dream job" after daring to call out Musk for hurting the company.

He did so fully understanding the risks he was taking, but spoke out anyway — "because I believe in Tesla's mission more than I fear its CEO," LaBrot wrote in a LinkedIn post Friday, as spotted by Fortune.

"I want that mission to grow and thrive," LaBrot added. "And I believe we can't do that with Elon Musk as CEO."

In late April, LaBrot, who joined the company in 2019, anonymously created a website called "Tesla Employees Against Elon" where he shared an open letter calling for new leadership and blaming Musk for the company's plummeting sales which, in the US, have fallen by 9 percent in the first quarter.

"This is not because our cars got worse," LaBrot wrote in the letter, "but because people no longer want to associate with Elon. That's it. That's the truth." 

LaBrot made an even bolder move days later. According to an interview with Business Insider, he spray-painted his Cybertruck with his protest website information and a big "Pro Tesla - Anti Elon" slogan and parked it outside a Tesla facility. LaBrot got a call from the human resources department about his termination the next day. HR claimed it was because he used company resources to build the website, but LaBrot denies this.

"I still firmly believe in the company," he told Business Insider, "and what we're working towards."

It'd be hard to argue the veracity of LaBrot's criticisms, as Tesla's position has never looked more precarious. The automaker experienced its first ever annual decline in sales in 2024. And it looks set for a repeat of that this year, with first quarter sales in Europe falling by 37 percent, despite overall EV sales rising by 28 percent. Tens of thousands of its unsold cars are piling up in dealerships. And to cap it all off, the automaker's net income during this period tumbled by a staggering 71 percent.

Musk, who's always been a central part of Tesla's image, is largely to blame. His extremist views and involvement in the Trump administration with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency — in which he's dramatically slashed federal spending, fired tens of thousands of workers, and tampered with Social Security — have made him a deeply reviled figure. The feelings of resentment he's inspired run so deep that a worldwide "Tesla Takedown" protest movement has sprung up against him and his automaker.

Musk's brand damage isn't the only factor at play. The frequently recalled Cybertruck has been an expensive failure. Newly emerging Chinese competitors like BYD are overtaking its sales. And Tesla's vehicle lineup is stale and largely unchanged. It's tried to address this with a recent Model Y refresh, but in what seems a clear sign of desperation, Tesla is already offering steep discounts to potential buyers. 

All of this is happening under Musk's watch, even if it's not necessarily because of Musk's politics. So to critics like LaBrot, the solution is obvious. 

"Tesla is ready to move forward. And we're ready to move forward without Elon as CEO," LaBrot wrote in the open letter.

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