Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr took a jab at Sheryl Crow over the weekend after the singer announced she is selling her Tesla and donating the funds to NPR amid President Trump and Elon Musk’s campaign to slash federal funding, including for public broadcasters.
“I know celebrities are hesitant to weigh in on hot button issues, so I appreciate Sheryl Crow making an argument here — not through words alone, but through her actions — that Congress should not force taxpayers to subsidize NPR,” Carr wrote Saturday on social platform X.
“Bravo,” he added, attaching a clapping hand emoji.
The mockery came in response to Crow’s post on Instagram, with a video of her waving goodbye to her Tesla on a tow truck.
“My parents always said… you are who you hang out with,” Crow wrote in the video’s caption. “There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla.”
“Money donated to @npr, which is under threat by President Musk, in hopes that the truth will continue to find its way to those willing to know the truth,” she added.
Democrats have focused much of their anger over the Trump administration’s moves to cut government at Musk, a billionaire appointed to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Trump has repeatedly bashed public broadcasters, accusing outlets like NPR and PBS of being biased against conservative voices. The president has argued they should not receive federal funding, which makes up a small part of the outlets’ financing, while also calling for the outlets to be dismantled.
NPR, founded in 1970, gets the majority of its funding from private sponsorships and user contributions.
Musk called to “defund NPR” on X earlier this month, writing “It should survive on its own.”
Carr, who took over as FCC chair last month, launched an investigation into NPR and PBS over their alleged “airing of commercials,” which he said may violate federal law.
Crow, 62, is an outspoken critic Trump, telling The Hill’s In the Know that the political environment “doesn’t feel uplifting” in December.
“I think that we have to go through some really rugged times to really enter some introspection and decide who we are in our humanity,” Crow said at the time.
The Hill reached out to Crow’s team Monday for comment.
As Musk and his DOGE team have moved to gut some agencies and downsize government — largely in the form of layoffs of federal employees — others have joined Crow in ditching their Tesla electric vehicles in protest of Musk, the company CEO.
