Elon Musk
Elon MuskREUTERS

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk slammed the use of lockdown orders to combat the coronavirus pandemic, calling the orders “fascist” and unconstitutional.

The South African-born CEO of Tesla and SpaceX blasted government directives requiring people to remain in their homes, telling analysts during a question-and-answer session over the phone Wednesday that lockdown orders were tantamount to forced imprisonment and “fascist”.

"If somebody wants to stay in their house, that's great," Musk said. "They should be allowed to stay in the house, and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house, and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist."

“This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.”

Musk went on to call the lockdown orders unconstitional.

"So the expansion of the shelter in place or as we call it forcibly imprisoning people in their homes, against all their constitutional rights, is my opinion, and breaking people's freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong, and not why people came to America or built this country, excuse me. It's outrage, it's an outrage. It will cause loss, great, great harm, but not just to Tesla, but any company. And while people will weather the storm there are many small companies that will not," he said.