Pablo Escobar’s Brother Says Elon Musk Stole His Flamethrower
Pablo Escobar’s brother Roberto says that Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, stole his flamethrower concept, and he’s not happy about it, according to TMZ.
Back in 2018, Musk announced and sold a ‘The Boring Company Not a Flamethrower,” — a souped-up propane torch. Fans nabbed the unusual tool up, making the company millions of dollars. Now, Escobar is marketing his own version for $249 — discounted from the original $500 — and he is apparently considering going after Musk for intellectual property theft.
Escobar’s version looks similar to Musk’s, but the late drug kingpin’s brother says that one of Musk’s engineers visited the Medellin compound in the summer of 2017 and stole the idea of the flamethrower.
Escobar says that he chatted with Musk’s employee about an idea that he had to create a flamethrower that he could use to burn money for fun. A year later, Musk came out with a flamethrower that Escobar says seems a little too similar to his original idea.
Reportedly, Escobar and his company Escobar, Inc. are considering pursuing legal options against The Boring Company and Musk, per TMZ, though it is likely that Musk nailed down a patent before bringing his flamethrower to the world.
Musk’s response to the whole drama?
“It’s Not a Flamethrower, Mr. Escobar,” he said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=S1hpFaXerm8
Escobar, Inc. is the holding company for Pablo Escobar’s assets. Currently, the company is selling the flamethrower, t-shirts and an autobiography of Pablo Escobar that can be purchase for $499, on sale from $10,000.
A meet-and-greet with Roberto Escobar is also on sale for a cool $101,000 – $808,000 if you have money that you want to burn.
For those that missed out on The Boring Company version of the flamethrower, they can buy one on eBay for approximately $1,500 — three times its original price. Customers should be aware, though, that the company says the flamethrower “may not be used on Boring Company decorative lacquered hay bales or Boring Company dockside munitions warehouses.” It also notes that a fire extinguisher is sold separately.
While marketing the flamethrower in 2018, Musk claimed to fans that the tool is actually sentient, making it a more appealing alternative than the Escobar version, which appears to be just a standard propane tank mounted in a gun — sans consciousness.
“But wait, there’s more: the flamethrower is sentient, its safe word is ‘cryptocurrency’ and it comes with a free blockchain,” he tweeted.
The bad news is, either version could soon get customers in trouble with the law in New York state.
The New York State Senate passed a bill that would make the possession of a flamethrower for recreational activities a felony, with an eye toward outlawing the one made by Elon Musk’s Boring Co. https://t.co/JLvp8axdpl
— CNBC (@CNBC) June 21, 2019
