Are People Putting Cheese On Teslas?

In early March, reports spread that Tesla vehicle owners found themselves caught up in the national fervor against the influential Elon Musk. Aside from the notoriety he has garnered through his ownership of companies like SpaceX, X, and Tesla, the billionaire has involved himself heavily in the government since the election of Donald Trump. His tenure as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not an official government department, has been fraught with frustration and controversy.

Reports roared in about Musk's young proteges within the organization, forcing their way into government agencies  — sometimes literally by force  — and then gutting them. Reuters has reported that hundreds of thousands have been fired while according to WIRED, citizens' personal data have been collected. All the while, Musk has vigorously attacked critics from his perch on X, often with language that denigrates disabled people or other marginalized groups.

The reaction from the public has been swift and severe. But has it also been cheesy? It's no secret that protests against Musk and Tesla have erupted across the globe, with some taking more traditional approaches than others. Amid reports of your average protestors with picket signs are a slew of Tesla dealerships being vandalized, vehicles being lit on fire while sitting on dealership lots, and drivers being... attacked with cheese? Who would waste cheese in this economy? As you might suspect, rumors that Teslas are getting peppered with jack are greatly exaggerated. Let's dive into the facts of the matter.

It's unclear how widespread the Tesla cheeseings are, but they appear to be mostly unfounded. Evidence of this particular form of protest comes in the form of a single anecdotal report. In Dallas, KUT reported that a man claimed "someone threw Kraft singles at his Tesla." That's not exactly bulletproof journalism, but it was picked up by other outlets, which inflated the claims. One unsourced article from MotorBiscuit claimed "Tesla protestors are wallpapering the brand's EVs with cheese." A thin stretch of the Dallas man's original claims.

KFMX 94.5, a rock radio station in Lubbock, Texas, wrote that Teslas were being "covered in Kraft singles." However, the man in question only claimed the cheese was thrown at his vehicle, not that it hit the car, and certainly not that the vehicle was "covered." Moreover, KFMX didn't cite the original reporting, but rather a Chron article that made passing mention of the KUT report.

Another account of a cheese-smothered Tesla comes from Reddit, where one user wrote a post entitled, "To My Neighbor Whose [sic] Tesla Is Covered in Kraft Singles." The post alleges that the Tesla's driver was going out of their way to splash people waiting for the bus, but does not mention a political motivation for their dairy-based retaliation. Moreover, there is no photo or video evidence to accompany the post, casting an additional layer of skepticism on the veracity of the story. Factor in the recent revelation of human-level bots running wild on Reddit, and the truthfulness of this post becomes even less likely.

Although only a handful of Tesla owners have had their cars messed with by those upset by Elon Musk's sacking of government agencies, the protests have caused an uproar among drivers of the popular EVs. The Trump White House has stoked those fears, as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called the petty vandals domestic terrorists and promised to prosecute them as such. FBI head Kash Patel has launched a task force within the agency to investigate the protests. Among owners, reactions have ranged from selling their Tesla to adorning it with a bumper sticker assuring onlookers that they do not align with Musk's vision for America.

However, it's not clear that the vandalism is affecting more than a small number of Tesla owners. Many of the damaged vehicles were tampered with while they sat on dealership lots, such as 80 Teslas that had their tires punctured and panels scratched at a dealership in Ontario, Canada, as reported by CBC. As of this writing, there have only been seven arrests for anti-Tesla actions, with the most recent being an Arizona man who allegedly set the EVs on fire, also at a dealership, according to the Department of Justice.

Ironically, buying a Tesla might never be a better deal. MarketWatch reported that, thanks to the record number of owners who have decided it's time to ditch their Teslas to avoid association with Elon Musk, they've never been this cheap.