Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, after having cheered for Tesla’s stock dropping, has walked back his comments and said that he was just “being a smarta**.”

“I have to be careful about being a smarta**. I was making a joke,” Walz commented, per The Hill. “These people have no sense of humor. They are the most literal people. My point was, they’re all mad, and I said something I … probably shouldn’t have about a company.”

When Walz was speaking to a crowd in Wisconsin last week, he made the comment, “Some of you know this. On the iPhone, they’ve got that little stock app. I added Tesla to it to give me a little boost during the day — $225 and dropping. And if you own one, we’re not blaming you. You can take dental floss and pull the Tesla thing off.”

Walz got harsh backlash over his comments, appearing to wish for the company’s demise. Entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary slammed Walz over the comments, saying that it was “beyond stupid” for him to make light of the stock value’s dip as Minnesota’s State Board of Investments held approximately $1.6 million in Telsa stock in 2024.

Amid backlash against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) working with the Trump administration to cut back on waste, fraud, and abuse of government spending and shrink its scope, Tesla’s stock has dropped 41.4 percent since the beginning of the year.

Additionally, there have been a slew of violent attacks against the company, including the fire-bombing of individual’s own Tesla cars parked on the street, Tesla dealerships, as well as charging stations. In multiple instances in the US and other places around the world, the company has been targeted with arson, vandalism, and other crimes.

Other comments from Walz have gotten him in hot water recently as well, including claiming that he could “kick most [Trump supporters’] a**” in a fight. He was subsequently challenged by Knox County, Tennessee Mayor of Glenn Jacobs, who was known as the 7-foot-tall Kane in the WWE before retiring from wrestling.