Sheryl Crow Says Armed Man Got Onto Her Property After She Sold Tesla

Sheryl Crow said she caught an armed man on her property in Tennessee after publicly ditching her Tesla in protest of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s efforts to gut government programs through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Crow sold her Tesla back in February (and pointedly donated the proceeds to NPR), sharing a video on Instagram, in which she waves goodbye to the car as it’s taken away on a tow truck (the whole thing is hilariously soundtracked by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman’s “Time to Say Goodbye”). In the caption, Crow wrote, “My parents always said… you are who you hang out with. There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla.”

Such staunch stances are hardly new for Crow, though as she told Variety in a new interview, she was surprised by the backlash, including the appearance of an intruder on her property. “[T]here was a moment where I actually really felt very afraid: A man got on my property, in my barn, who was armed,” she said. “It doesn’t feel safe when you’re dealing with people who are so committed.”

Crow compared the incident to the moment in the Nineties when Walmart banned sales of her smash self-titled second album over a lyric on “Love Is a Good Thing,” which criticized the retailer’s old policy on selling guns (“Watch our children as they kill each other/with a gun they bought at the Walmart discount stores”). 

“This feels different, because when I came out against Walmart carrying guns, not everybody was armed — and certainly I didn’t live in Tennessee, where everybody is armed,” Crow said. 

Still, Crow did not express any interest in tempering her outspokenness. “I can’t help it,” she said. “I feel like I’m fighting for my kids. Also, that’s the way I was raised. There have been times when it hasn’t really been fun, but I follow my Atticus Finch dad; I’m very similar to him if I see something that seems unfair, you know?”