Elon Musk's "Crazy Stalker" Video Controversy

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Part of a series on ElonJet Doxxing Controversy. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Elon Musk's "Crazy Stalker" Video Controversy refers to the situation surrounding a viral video Elon Musk posted to Twitter of a man named Brandon Collado who he accused of stalking him and threatening a car he said was carrying his child, X Æ A-12. The incident came in conjunction with the banning of @ElonJet, an account that posted Musk's publically available flight records, as Musk claimed doing so was tantamount to tweeting his "assassination coordinates." However, investigations by Los Angeles police and journalists allege that Musk was purportedly exaggerating the truth and that his child was not in the car.

Background

On December 14th, 2022, Elon Musk tweeted a video^[1] said to be of his "crazy stalker," asking if anyone recognized the person or car he was in. The video notably included the car's license plate.

Anyone recognize this person or car? pic.twitter.com/2U0Eyx7iwl

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2022

The video was posted in the midst of Musk altering the rules of Twitter to ban the posting of real-time location information, which is believed to have been done largely as a result of the Twitter account @ElonJet, which posted Musk's publicly available flight records. Musk directly cited the owner of the account, Jack Sweeney, in his tweet^[2] about the stalker incident, saying he would bring legal action against Sweeney and any organizations that "supported harm" of his family (shown below).

Elon Musk @elonmusk Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood. Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family. 7:48 PM Dec 14, 2022 ... ●

Developments

Elon Musk received harsh criticism for his December 14th, 2022, tweet, as many users noted he was doxxing the man in the car by posting his license plate number.^[3] He also banned several journalists covering the story from Twitter. One of those journalists was Taylor Lorenz, whose last tweet before her suspension was a request for comment from Musk on the "crazy stalker" story.^[4] Though some speculated Musk suspended her for writing a potentially critical story of him, she stated that she believes it was because she had linked to her other social media channels on Twitter — a policy the site briefly enacted on December 18th before reversing it.^[5]

The Serfs @theserfstv This was Taylor Lorenz last tweet Elon Musk @elonmusk 1h Replying to @DavidSacks The journalists were aware of the violent stalker and yet still doxxed the real-time location of my family. Turns out that's a criminal offense... 4,044 2,609 Taylor Lorenz @TaylorLorenz 30.3K 12:46 AM Dec 18, 2022 Replying to @elonmusk and @DavidSacks Hi Elon, @drewharwell and I sent you a couple emails about this. We've learned some information that we'd like to share and discuss with you. We're taking this very seriously and want to ensure this is pursued in the right way. Thanks 8:30 PM Dec 17, 2022 ... ...

On December 18th, 2022, Lorenz and Drew Harwell published a story in The Washington Post^[6] detailing how police saw no link between ElonJet and the Musk stalker. The Post also said there was no evidence Musk's son was in the car. On December 20th, the Daily Beast reported that South Pasadena law enforcement had found no evidence that Musk's child was in the car.^[7]

Furthermore, the police were investigating the incident on behalf of the man in the video, Brandon Collado, who has accused Musk of stalking him in the past.^[6] Collado alleges that Musk's security team "pulled directly in front of him, blocking his path," and that Musk's security team had struck him with their vehicle, resulting in superficial injuries.