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Tesla lays off head of LGBTQ+ and diversity lead amid Musk’s ‘woke mind virus’ concerns

by Fred Lambert

Tesla has laid off both the President of its LGBTQ+ community and a lead involved in diversity and inclusivity programs at the company.

While they were let go as part of a broader wave of layoffs, it comes amid several comments Tesla CEO Elon Musk made, concerning what he describes as the “woke mind virus.”

Earlier this month, we reported on Musk telling Tesla executives in an email that they need to cut 10% of the workforce and pause hiring due to having a “super bad feeling” about the economy.

Later, the CEO has decided to clarify the Tesla layoffs in an email to all employees. He claimed that the 10% reduction would be for “salaried headcount” due to Tesla becoming overstaffed following a long growth phase.

Tesla ramped up the layoffs last week, and we reported that unlike what Musk said, they did include hourly employees.

Now we learn that many employees involved in diversity and inclusivity programs were part of the layoffs, including the President of Tesla’s LGBTQ+ community and a lead involved in diversity and inclusivity programs at the company.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Bobby Berretta-Paris was let go last week. Berretta-Paris was a 5-year veteran at Tesla.

He was hired as a recruiter and promoted 3 times over his 5-year tenure at Tesla. He was also the volunteer President of LGBTQ+ at Tesla.

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