Tesla Shares Fall After Bad PR Weekend For CEO Elon Musk

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s online antics have once again put the company in a negative light. Shares of Tesla took a dip in the aftermath of Musk’s latest scandal, an entirely inexplicable Twitter controversy involving one of the men who helped save 12 boys and their soccer coach from a Thai cave, according to CNBC.

On Monday, Tesla shares closed at $310.10, a three percent drop on the day. The fall could be attributed to what was a disastrous public relations weekend for the electric car manufacturer’s outspoken founder.

Musk’s most controversial act over the weekend was to call British caver Vern Unsworth a pedophile. He later deleted the tweet and Musk did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Unsworth assisted in the rescue of a Thai youth soccer team by providing knowledge of the cave system they were trapped in. He also publicly criticized Musk’s potential involvement in the rescue, saying the experimental submarine Musk wanted to use would not have worked.

Unsworth told the Guardian he was “astonished and very angry” at what Musk said and was considering legal action against the tech billionaire.

Musk also took flak for donating nearly $40,000 to the political action committee Protect The House. The PAC is dedicated to maintaining Republican control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. Musk has donated to candidates in multiple parties over the years and claimed on Twitter to be politically unaffiliated. However, the donations did not help his case among people who are already highly critical of Musk.

At least one Tesla shareholder has publicly called for Musk to get off of Twitter and focus on his job. Tesla has faced concerns about its ability to become profitable in the near future due to lingering production problems with the mass-market Model 3 car.

Last week, Tesla opened up Model 3 delivery orders to the general public for the first time, an encouraging sign for the company’s ability to mass produce the vehicles. Even that was met with PR trouble, though. A report emerged last week that Tesla factory workers worked in unsafe, exhausting conditions in order to meet production quotas.

Shares of Tesla gained 1.42 percent in early trading on Tuesday.