Elon Musk (photo by Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images) and Richard Tornetta (via YouTube)
Talk about stickin’ it to the man! Elon Musk was just stripped of a $56 billion pay package thanks to a lawsuit filed by a heavy metal drummer named Richard Tornetta.
Earlier this week, Delaware judge Kathleen St. J. McCormick voided Musk’s Tesla pay package, calling it “an unfathomable sum” that was unfair to shareholders, according to Reuters. As it turns out, the legal action was brought against Musk in 2018 by Tornetta, who owned nine shares of Tesla at the time.
As Newsweek notes, Tornetta played drums in the Philadelphia thrash metal band Dawn of Correction, who released the EP Swingin’ the Chain and the full-length album Dead Hand Control before breaking up in 2008.
n a 2006 interview with Metal Underground, Tornetta was asked about his biggest influences, responding, “Mike Portnoy is the biggest. Another biggie is Dave Weckl and definitely Vinnie Paul.”
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Tornetta now seems to focus on industrial design, for which he earned a degree. On one of his profile pages, he described himself as a “marketer, inventor, custom fabricator, car guy, family man, and drummer,” adding, “I designed and built an illuminated headpiece for onstage drumming performances. That’s a fancy way of saying I made a mohawk that lights up while I’m playing drums.”
For his part, Musk tweeted, “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware,” in response to the judge’s ruling. He will be allowed to appeal the decision if he so desires.
Check out Richard Tornetta pounding the kit with Dawn of Correction during a gig at the famed New York City venue CBGB in the video below.
