A rumor circulating on social media in August 2025 claimed legendary rocker and Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger rejected a $500 million endorsement deal from Elon Musk's Tesla, Inc. and stated, "Rock 'n' roll is not for sale."
The rumor spread widely across Facebook (archived, archived, archived), with many users who shared the claims celebrating Jagger's alleged stance. Further, one of the most popular posts on Facebook (archived), with nearly 100,000 reactions as of this writing, featured links in top comments leading to articles hosted by advertisement-filled WordPress blogs.
These posts included alleged details about the exchange between Jagger and Musk. For instance, the posts began:
Mick Jagger Drops Bombshell by Rejecting Elon Musk's $500 Million Tesla Endorsement Deal — "I Will NEVER Be Bought by Billionaires Like You; Rock 'n' Roll Is Not for Sale — I Stand With the People Against Greed, Racism, and Corporate Exploitation." A $500 MILLION check from Elon Musk… REJECTED. Mick Jagger just made the boldest move in rock history. The Stones' frontman turned down Tesla's half-billion-dollar offer, Mick Jagger gave him just five short words in response...
The popularity of the rumor led Snopes readers to reach out via email asking if there was any truth behind it.
Despite the widespread nature of the rumor, there is no evidence that Jagger rejected an endorsement deal from Tesla. Searches on Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo revealed no credible news outlets reporting on the rumor, only the same false claims spreading on Facebook.
Further, the WordPress blog linked to in some social media posts expanded on the alleged story, claiming "the Tesla deal was rumored to include everything from global ad campaigns to exclusive Rolling Stones-themed Tesla cars." The story also said:
Jagger, who has long been a symbol of counterculture and artistic independence, didn't mince words when asked why he would walk away from such a staggering payday. Standing on stage at a recent private event, the 81-year-old frontman reportedly paused, looked out into the crowd, and delivered his verdict:
"Rock 'n' roll is not for sale. I will NEVER be bought by billionaires like you. I stand with the people."
The room went silent. Then it exploded into applause.
However, there is no evidence such an event took place. A representative for Jagger emailed Snopes and said simply, "Ridiculous."
Given Jagger's stature in the world of music and the pervasive headlines regarding Musk and Tesla in the news cycle, this undoubtedly would have been reported on or captured on video. No such account of this scene exists according to a thorough search of social media platforms and search engines.
Finally, running a selection of the text from the WordPress blog through GPTZero, an artificial intelligence detection platform, returned an estimate that it is 96% likely the article was generated with AI. The Facebook posts sharing the claim aimed to earn advertising revenue from curious readers when they clicked the links to the expanded but entirely fabricated story.
(GPTZero)
While this story is false, Jagger is a known car enthusiast and was featured in the Aston Martin magazine in 2013. The piece was called "Street Fighting Man," named after a Rolling Stones tune, and discussed Jagger's purchase of an Aston Martin DB6 in 1966. There are also a wide variety of photographs available to view on Getty Images featuring Jagger and his bandmates in classic cars.
Snopes reached out to Tesla for comment on the rumor and will update this article if we receive a response.