Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, recently mocked CNN after they reported that Musk never made good on his promise of delivering ventilators to California. In March, Elon had promised California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) a donation of 1,000 ventilators to help California amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
CNN later reported that the governor’s office said that it had not received any ventilators. They then tweeted
“Three weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had obtained more than 1,000 ventilators to help California hospitals treating patients infected with the coronavirus, the governor’s office says none of the promised ventilators have been received by hospitals.”
Musk then fired back in a Twitter response, “What I find most surprising is that CNN still exists.” Good one Elon!
He later tweeted Governor Newsom asking him to clear up the misunderstanding and shared screenshots of receipts confirming that he did send the promised ventilators to California hospitals.
Of course here comes CNN always wanting to be a part of the problem. Instead of writing all of the good Tesla has done for the USA, they focus on a made-up story.
There’s even proof of the generous offer. At a March 23 news conference, Newsom said the devices, which can provide life-saving support to patients infected with the virus, had already arrived in Los Angeles and were on their way to hospitals in need.”I told you a few days ago that he was likely to have 1,000 ventilators this week,” Newsom said. “They’ve arrived in Los Angeles, and Elon Musk is already working with hospital associations and others to get those ventilators out. It’s a heroic effort.”
In a March 27 message, Los Angeles County Health Services Director of System Operations and Support Services Phillip Franks wrote “[The ventilators] worked great during testing today. We will put these to use tomorrow! Thanks!”
Of course CNN stands by what they reported in a Twitter response. Matt Dornic, the network’s vice president of communications, mocked Musk for his indignation by writing “Weird to attack CNN for what the CA governor’s office said — especially when your own spokespeople at Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment. It seems like your outrage should, uh, be directed at the entity that made the claim, not the one that reported it. U new to this?” CNN then continued to point the finger by blaming the Sacramento Bee, claiming they were the first news to report the unanswered CNN requests for comment by Tesla. Typical.
CNN must not be aware of Twitter’s search function. The hospitals themselves have acknowledged receipts of the ventilators…and this guy is head of communications? He might want to do a bit of research himself before attacking Musk. The receipts are there and the donations have been received.
CNN has updated its original story by blaming other news sources for the miscommunication and Dornic still appears to be employed. They’ll slide under the radar and continue to spread misinformation. Typical fake news.
