That’ll show Elon…
It’s Mardi Gras today in New Orleans. As I type this from my hotel room in the French Quarter, my body is definitely feeling the effects of five straight days of parades and drinking, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
While Mardi Gras is technically only one day, Fat Tuesday, the celebration lasts for weeks, with parades rolling nightly in the weeks leading up to the final day before Lent. And last night, the parade route on St. Charles Avenue was packed with parade goers for the Lundi Gras parades, which is the Monday before Fat Tuesday.
The main events last night were the parades from the Krewe (pronounced “crew”) of Proteus and the Krewe of Orpheus. And despite the fact that it was a Monday night, it’s a state holiday down here in Louisiana, so crowds were out in full force to watch one of “superkrewes” roll for Lundi Gras.
Orpheus is one of the larger parades of the Carnival season here in New Orleans, featuring 41 floats along with the marching bands and other entries. But as I was watching the parade move down St. Charles, I heard an unfamiliar sound coming from the crowd: Booing.
Most of the time all you hear is music and people screaming at the riders on the float to throw them something, so I was curious what people were booing in a parade. And then I saw it.
Orpheus featured several riders in Tesla Cybertrucks. And I’m not sure if they were actually part of the parade, or whether they were just riding behind another group to provide support, but they didn’t exactly get a welcome reception as they drove down the street…
The crowd loudly booed the Cybertrucks, and some even threw beads at them as they passed, no doubt in protest of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who’s become a controversial figure these days for his role in President Donald Trump’s second presidential administration.
Here’s a cybertruck getting booed at Orpheus to brighten your Lundi Gras: pic.twitter.com/xsSwwIc08n
— Blair (@WayfaringPhoto) March 4, 2025
@chercheur_de_verite This cyber truck got pelted so hard, the fools driving it called for police and turned off the route at Jackson Avenue. #Orpheus #MardiGras2025 #fuckfascism
@jeepers.kwiifers Nothing like watching some #tesla #cybertruck getting #boo in #neworleans at #orpheus
Nobody said Mardi Gras was a classy event…
Of course a lot of people just hate the Cybertruck because they’re…well, ugly. But others see them as a symbol of support for Musk and a general sign of pretentiousness, which is why the vehicles have become as controversial as the company’s CEO.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, owner of Twitter/X, and one of the richest men on earth, is heading up Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is tasked with reducing government spending, eliminating waste, and shrinking the size of government.
Of course that’s upset a lot of federal employees and other people who like government spending (because it makes them feel like they’re actually doing something good, when in reality all they’re doing is spending someone else’s money to advance their own causes. But that’s beside the point…)
Democrats are particularly outraged by the decision from the administration to shut down USAID. The United States Agency for International Development, which had a budget of over $40 billion and was tasked with administering foreign aid all around the world, became a top target for Musk and DOGE after some of their wasteful spending was identified, like $20 million to create an Iraqi Sesame Street and $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala.
The hatred for Musk even pushed singer Sheryl Crow to sell her Tesla and post a performative video of it while claiming that she was donating all of the proceeds to NPR.
Generally Mardi Gras is the biggest party on earth and pretty much anything goes. Anything, I guess, but Cybertrucks…
The post Paradegoers Boo Tesla Cybertrucks, Pelt Them With Beads During New Orleans Mardi Gras Parade first appeared on Whiskey Riff.