Jury selection in Musk vs. Altman is already a PR disaster for Elon

The trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over OpenAI’s alleged broken promises kicked off on Monday, and jury selection was the first order of business. Normally that’s a procedural snooze. Not this time.

It turns out a whole lot of prospective jurors already have very strong opinions about Elon Musk. And they’re not shy about sharing them.

The Verge’s Elizabeth Lopatto was in the courtroom and shared some choice quotes from the juror questionnaires. Here’s a sampler:

“Elon Musk is a greedy, racist, homophobic piece of garbage.”

“Elon Musk is a world-class jerk.”

“I very much dislike Tesla. As a woman of color, I am very aware of the damaging statements and actions Elon Musk has enacted and been a part of.”

Ouch. That’s not the kind of opening statement you want to hear before you’ve even made your case.

Look, Musk has always been a polarizing figure, but this is a new level of public sentiment being aired in a legal setting. The fact that these responses came from a pool of potential jurors — people who are supposed to be impartial — is telling. It suggests that his public persona has become so toxic that finding 12 people who can set aside their personal feelings about him might be a genuine challenge.

Now, the legal standard is that jurors need to be able to set aside bias and decide based on evidence. But when someone writes “piece of garbage” on a form, you have to wonder how much of that is going to seep into deliberations. The defense will certainly try to strike anyone who can’t be fair, but it’s a numbers game. If too many people in the pool have strong negative views, you end up with a jury that’s either unusually forgiving or just the least biased of a biased bunch.

This is higher than I expected. I’ve covered tech trials before, and usually jury selection is about people who don’t know or care about the parties. Here, it’s the opposite. Musk’s brand has become so divisive that it’s actively hurting his legal position before the trial even gets going.

Of course, this cuts both ways. Musk’s legal team will also try to find jurors who dislike Altman or have grievances against OpenAI. But the tone of those questionnaires suggests Musk has a steeper hill to climb. When you’re the plaintiff and the jury pool thinks you’re a “world-class jerk,” your case starts with a handicap.

I’ll be watching how the rest of jury selection plays out, and whether the final panel ends up being as hostile as the initial pool suggests. Either way, this is not the headline Musk wanted on day one.