Friday Funny: The Onion Skewers Elon Musk (Again)

Elon Musk, a favorite target of satirists and urbanists alike, is once again the subject of The Onion's withering pen.

1 minute read

April 23, 2021, 8:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Outdoor Recreation

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"Boasting that the system used 75% less power than normal cars and could be installed on almost any street corner with 400 square feet of free space, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a new urban slingshot system Wednesday that he claimed was capable of of [sic] moving up to six pedestrians across the street per hour."

That's the opening salvo of the latest effort by satirical news site The Onion to draw attention to the absurdities of the transportation technology innovations championed by Elon Musk. This latest satire hits a little bit of Tesla, a little bit of Hyperloop, a little bit of The Boring Company, and a little bit of LVCC Loop, the latter of which made the wrong kind of news at a media debut earlier this month.

Here are some of the recent satirical burns that have been sent Elon Musk's way, by various media outlets but heavily featuring the work of Onion staff writers:

The latest round of satire includes a few more burns that can be read after the jump.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 in The Onion

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