Protesters target Elon Musk's home with 'party' rally: buses, Cybertruck piñatas and slogans against billionaire influence

Protesters targeted the Austin-area home of SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday, staging a post-election "party" outside the property in West Lake Hills, Texas. The demonstration was organised by three nonprofits with combined annual revenues of $56.1 million.

The organisers called the event the "People Over Billionaires Election After Party." Participants arrived in two blue party buses, while organisers played Queen's "We Will Rock You" over loudspeakers and attendees smashed piñatas shaped like a Tesla Cybertruck.

About 60 people attended, according to estimates. Protesters carried signs reading "Texas is not for sale" and "Alright Texas! Now let's tax Musk."

The three groups behind the event were VOCAL-TX, the Center for Popular Democracy and People's Action. VOCAL-TX is a fiscally-sponsored project of a New York 501(c)(3) nonprofit; the Center for Popular Democracy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Brooklyn; and People's Action is a 501(c)(4) political nonprofit based in Chicago.

According to their most recent tax filings, the three groups reported $56.1 million in combined 2024 revenue. The Center for Popular Democracy reported $40.9 million, People's Action Institute reported $2.1 million, and Voices of Community Activists and Leaders Inc., or VOCAL-NY, reported $13.1 million. The organisations are separate entities, and the figures do not represent a shared operating budget.

Organisers promoted the event as a celebration of voters rejecting the influence of wealthy donors. "We'll bring the music, you bring the dance moves! This is family friendly, peaceful and FUN event!" they wrote.

The Austin American-Statesman covered the event and cast it playfully, with the headline "Dozens party outside Elon Musk's West Lake Hills home after campaign donations fell flat." It wrote about how organisers led a "Love Train" conga line and distributed party hats and refreshments, including cider.

A mass-produced anti-Musk poster reading "I AM STEALING FROM YOU," featuring the tech billionaire, was also on display at the protest outside his home, and has appeared at demonstrations nationwide.

The demonstration followed in the spirit of the "Tesla Takedown" protests launched at Texas dealerships in early 2025. According to a Fox News Digital investigation, 258 organisations with combined annual revenues of an estimated $2.6 billion were behind those protests. Some of those protests led to vandalism against Tesla vehicles and dealerships.

Some of the groups at the protest carried posters with messages like "DOWN WITH BILLIONAIRES. WE NEED SOCIALISM." The demonstration came as Democratic politicians threaten investigations into Trump's corporate backers, including Musk.

According to Fox News Digital, congressional lawmakers and Justice Department prosecutors are investigating Neville Roy Singham, an American-born, Shanghai-based tycoon, for funding and backing pro-communist groups.

The demonstration focused on Musk's spending during the 2026 election cycle. A New York Times analysis placed Musk's total disclosed political spending at approximately $474 million, while other analyses based more narrowly on Federal Election Commission filings put the figure at roughly $445 million. About $212 million supported Texas Republican Ken Paxton's unsuccessful Senate campaign through allied political committees.

May Day Strong, another coalition tagged in the social media promotion of the event, describes itself as a "constellation" of more than 600 labour and community organisations. Its stated demands include taxing the rich, opposing ICE, expanding "democracy" and organising workers to oppose the Trump administration.

Eli Cortez, a VOCAL-TX bus captain, told the Austin American-Statesman that the event was intended to celebrate voters rejecting the political influence of billionaires. Cortez did not respond to a request for comment.

The leaders of the organisations behind the event did not provide comment in response to queries from Fox News Digital, but they have insisted in the past that their local protests are the result of "organic" organising in communities.

Researchers have warned that, while this event was peaceful, the rhetoric of demonisation and polarisation at protests can create a "permission structure" for political violence, according to researchers at organisations like the Network Contagion Research Institute.