Tesla lays off head of LGBTQ+, diversity lead

San Francisco, June 21 (IANS) Amid CEO Elon Musk's "woke mind virus" concerns, electric vehicle company Tesla has laid off both the president of its LGBTQ+ community and a lead involved in diversity and inclusivity programmes at the company.

While they were let go as part of a broader wave of layoffs, it comes amid several comments CEO Musk made, concerning what he describes as the "woke mind virus," reports the auto-tech website Electrek.

As per the report, many employees involved in diversity and inclusivity programmes were part of the layoffs.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Bobby Berretta-Paris, a five-year Tesla veteran, was let go last week.

He was hired as a recruiter and promoted three times during his tenure. He was also the volunteer president of LGBTQ+ at Tesla.

Sources also told the website about a software engineer that was also let go by Tesla last week.

Berretta-Paris and the software engineer involved in the diversity and inclusion programme didn't respond to a request for comment.

The layoffs of those diversity leaders at Tesla come amid Musk making several comments about what he calls "the woke mind virus," which he believes is "destroying civilization"