Once an avid Tesla fan, it seems that Jack White has changed his stripes.
The rock star’s label Third Man Records announced that White is auctioning off his green 2013 Tesla Model S, along with music memorabilia. The “Garage Sale” goes live at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at Everything But The House auctions.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Clark Park Coalition in Southwest Detroit, where White grew up.
White has been a vocal supporter of Tesla’s electric vehicles over the years, saying he was one of the first Model S owners in Nashville, where he now lives, and calling it “the greatest automobile ever made,” according to Rolling Stone. He also called the company’s CEO Elon Musk “the Henry Ford of the 21st Century” and performed a free concert for workers at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California. White even demonstrated a novel recording technique by using a radio transmitter to listen to tracks in his Model S and mix them in real time so they’re optimized for car stereos.
But Musk’s erratic behavior has alienated many of his supporters in recent months, including buying Twitter for $44 billion and using it to promote right-wing conspiracy theories and seemingly undercutting Tesla’s green goals by supporting climate change-denying Republicans like Ron DeSantis. White has criticized Musk several times recently, calling the self-described “free speech absolutist” hypocritical for his handling of controversial speech on Twitter and deactivating his account in protest when Musk said he would allow ex-President Donald Trump back on the social media platform after inciting the Jan. 6 riot.
“You did a lot of amazing things with Tesla, Elon, and you deserve a lot of compliments in that department (i personally supported the hell out of that venture), but you’ve gone too far and are now using your power to promote horrible, violence inducing liars, who are taking the country and the world backwards and endangering the democracy that made you rich and successful in the first place,” White wrote on Instagram last year.
In another recent Instagram post, White called out people for even continuing to associate with Trump. “Anybody who ‘normalizes’ or treats this disgusting fascist, racist, con man, disgusting piece of shit Trump with any level of respect is ALSO disgusting in my book,” he wrote on Instagram. “That’s you Joe Rogan, you Mel Gibson, you Mark Wahlberg, you Guy Fieri.”
White has become a vocal supporter of liberal causes in recent years, endorsing Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign by performing a free concert at a rally at Detroit’s Cass Technical High School, his alma mater.
As far as cars, these days, it appears that White is more into the original Henry Ford. Earlier this year, he posted photos on Instagram of a custom red-and-white 2023 Ford Bronco that he designed.
White’s publicists did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A message was also sent to White for comment on Instagram.
Additional memorabilia in Third Man’s “Garage Sale” auction includes some of White’s guitars and an iconic peppermint-striped drum set from his band the White Stripes, among other items.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the color of White’s Tesla. It is green, not black.
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