“Go out there, and vote for Peanut”— Elon Musk compares euthanasia controversy to John Wick, calls for Americans to 'mobilize'
During his November 4 appearance on the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, Elon Musk shared his insights about the ongoing controversy surrounding the euthanasia of pet Peanut the Squirrel. He mentioned it was "a beloved squirrel... doing no harm." However, the government came, barged into the home of its owner, Mark Longo, and took away his pet and killed it.
"I think this should get people out there mobilized, frankly. Because, um, like you said with the 'John Wick' movie, John Wick, he just wants... peace... He wanna retire. They offer him a ton of money for him to keep being an assassin... but he was like, 'I'm out of here.' And then, they kill his dog," Elon Musk shared.
He urged American voters to think about the current government's overreach of power and keep that in mind on election day.
“I hope people just go out there and vote, for Peanut, man. If nothing else. Just vote for Peanut,” Elon Musk added.
Host Joe Rogan also shared similar insights and pointed out how the “squirrel thing is bananas,” to which the Tesla CEO agreed.
For those unaware, in the film John Wick, Daisy, the Beagle puppy, was a posthumous gift given to the protagonist by his late wife, Helen, to cope with her death from a terminal illness.
However, the antagonist and Russian mobster Iosef Tarasov and his men killed Daisy while trying to steal the protagonist John Wick’s Mustang from his compound. In the aftermath, Wick returned to his former assassin life after a gap of five years to avenge Daisy’s death.
Exploring Elon Musk’s remarks about Peanut the Squirrel’s euthanasia
On October 30, Peanut was seized from its owner, Mark Longo, and later euthanized by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) along with a fellow pet raccoon named Fred.
This came after several anonymous complaints against the animals that lived in Pine City, Chemung County, upstate New York. While the DEC claimed they seized the animals as it was “illegal” to keep such young wildlife at home, the incident created an online outrage.
On Monday, Elon Musk addressed the fate of Peanut the Squirrel during Joe Rogan's podcast. He called out those who reportedly added “salt to the injury” and allegedly shared how they were “glad” that Peanut got “killed.”
“They shouldn’t have killed that squirrel. How many cases have we not heard about it? You know!” the SpaceX CEO said, adding, “How can it be that we live in America, supposedly the land of the free, and the government can barge into your home with guns? If you resist, you're gonna get shot. Then [they] take your pets and execute them. And if they can do that to your pets, what do you think they can do to you?”
Subsequently, Joe Rogan mentioned how Peanut’s story reminded him of fictional former hitman John Wick’s story, who got “inclined” to kill because somebody killed his pet Beagle.
Musk shared how the movie is very similar to real life, where Wick just wanted to retire from being an assassin but was forced to return to the world of crime because somebody murdered his dog.
Elon Musk previously addressed Peanut the Squirrel’s euthanasia on X
Over the last week, Elon Musk made several posts on X connected to the seizure and euthanasia of Peanut the Squirrel. In one, he wrote, “Government overreach kidnapped an orphan squirrel and executed him …” and reposted influencer Katherine Boyle’s post.
The latter comprised a screenshot of the said news from the Associated Press with the caption, “This is going to decide the election, isn’t it?” In a follow-up post, he shared an image of an animated squirrel dressed in the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars and wrote in the caption:
“‘If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine’ Obi P’Nut Kenobi.”
In another post, he further wrote the government “should not be allowed” to “barge” into people’s homes and “kill” their pets, referring to it as “messed up.” Elon Musk mentioned how it should not be “illegal” to have a squirrel as a pet and pointed out that DEC should have simply released Peanut into the forest rather than putting it down.
A separate post also saw the billionaire tech mogul tag Donald Trump, claiming that if elected President, he would “save squirrels.” Elon Musk even called the current government a “mindless and heartless killing machine.”