Musk mocked in Tesla 'Swasticar' poster at London bus stop (2025)

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A new poster mocking Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is also an adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, appeared in a London advertisement space in late February 2025, specifically at a bus stop on the corner of Pollard Row and Bethnal Green Road. The poster showed Musk extending his right arm while standing with a Tesla vehicle, with text mentioning the Nazi Germany-associated swastika symbol and 1939 — the year Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II.

The poster read: "Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds. Tesla. The Swasticar."

The designer of the poster sourced the image of Musk from one of Trump's Inauguration Day events on Jan. 20. On that day, the online neo-Nazi community responded favorably to what they viewed as Musk twice giving a "Nazi salute" to a crowd of Trump's supporters. Following Musk's gestures, he told the crowd, "My heart goes out to you." In an X post, he denied the claim that he intended to give a "Nazi salute," calling (archived) the assertion a "deception" by the "legacy media."

A group named Everyone Hates Elon claimed responsibility for the Tesla "Swasticar" poster after sharing a video on Instagram and TikTok on Feb. 24 that showed an unidentified person installing the sheet in the bus stop's ad space. The video displayed the word "parody." The group's posts —plus posts from other users on Reddit and X, and on Bluesky from author Stephen King — received a combined number of at least hundreds of thousands of likes and tens of millions of views.

By email, a spokesperson for the Everyone Hates Elon group said they only put in the one poster at the Pollard Row bus stop. The spokesperson declined to comment regarding the question of whether or not an advertising company authorized the installation.

Who owns the advertising space at the Pollard Row bus stop space remained unclear. A spokesperson for the Clear Channel company, which offers some bus stop advertising in the U.K., said the space does not belong to the company.

Musk's support of Germany's AfD party

The Everyone Hates Elon group's posts on Instagram and TikTok both featured the caption, "Elon Musk just helped the far-right in [Germany] win their best result since WW2 then called them to say congrats. So don't buy his f*ing cars, yeah?"

The caption referenced support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party from both Musk — the public face of Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — and Vice President JD Vance.

The New York Times reported Alice Weidel, the chancellor candidate for the AfD party, told journalists she slept through a call from Musk in the early hours of Feb. 24, with Musk personally congratulating her on the prior day's German elections. The reporting noted the AfD party's candidates won 20.8% of the vote in the elections but did not achieve their desired results.

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A post shared by Everyone Hates Elon (@everyonehateselon_)

"Elon Musk has usedhis vast wealth to amplify the far right in Europe," the spokesperson for Everyone Hates Elon further said in an email. "He got behind the AfD in Germany, and he's been campaigning to free Tommy Robinson in the U.K., and demanding a new U.K. election. He should spend more time with his 13 kids, and less spreading racism in our country. We don't want his cars, or his fascist politics."

Regarding the spokesperson's statements, Musk did post that he desired to see Tommy Robinson, a leader of the British far-right movement whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, freed from his 18-month jail sentence involving contempt of court for spreading false claims about a Syrian refugee. The Financial Times reported Musk sought U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's removal prior to the next general election, citing "people briefed on the matter." Further, People published information about Musk fathering 13 children.

The spokesperson for the Everyone Hates Elon group also clarified that Everyday Racism, a group named in their Instagram post, stood as a "partner organization" but did not share responsibility for the "Swasticar" poster. Both groups' Instagram accounts also linked to peoplevselon.co.uk, a website urging people to "stand against Elon" by donating money "in the fight for social justice."

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