title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In August 2022, consumer rights activist Ralph Nader called on the NHTSA to outright remove Full Self-Driving from all applicable Tesla cars. "Vice" and "Consumer Reports" also noted the poor implementation of Tesla's "Safety Score" measurement, which has led to drivers taking unsafe actions such as not braking for cyclists in the hopes of increasing their safety scores.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In February 2022, Tesla agreed to remove a "rolling stop" option from the add-on after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration complained the practice is unsafe and illegal everywhere in the United States.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Leaked emails revealed that starting in 2012 Tesla knowingly sold Model S cars with a design flaw in its battery that could cause fires. Toyota ended their partnership with Tesla in 2014 in part because of disagreements about structural designs that could help prevent battery damage from road debris which could cause fires. Following a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation into two high-profile Tesla vehicle fires in 2014, Tesla added a titanium underbody shield to better protect the battery from road debris.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: The NHTSA investigated Tesla in 2019 for allegedly issuing over-the-air updates to cover-up a non-crash fire risk in their batteries. In early 2021, Chinese regulators reprimanded Tesla after an increase in customer complaints about battery fires.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Over 200 incidents of sudden unintended acceleration in Tesla vehicles were reviewed by the NHTSA following a defect petition filed in December 2019. The investor who filed the defect petition said that the number of sudden unintended acceleration incidents involving Tesla vehicles was "astonishingly high" compared to other vehicles. The NHTSA concluded in January 2021 that the incidents were the result of user error, due to drivers confusing the brake and accelerator pedals.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In June 2021, Chinese regulators announced that Tesla would recall nearly 300,000 China-made and imported Model 3 and Model Y cars due to an assisted driving function that could be activated accidentally, causing sudden unintended acceleration.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In March 2021, the owner of a new Model 3 in China reported an accident that she believed was caused by a brake failure; a Tesla China technician reproduced the accident at the same location. Tesla China later issued a statement saying that both the customer's and the technician's cars showed no signs of any malfunction.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In April 2021, an angry Tesla owner protested atop a Tesla Model 3 at the Shanghai Auto Show, repeatedly yelling "Tesla brake lost control". The woman says that the brakes on her Tesla Model 3 failed, nearly killing four of her family members in an accident. Tesla China disputed the claim, saying the car's brakes and emergency-warning system functioned properly.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla has been accused of performing "stealth recalls" by labeling safety-critical repairs as "goodwill", while also requiring customers to sign non-disclosure agreements. Journalist and Ed Niedermeyer called this type of agreement "unheard of in the auto industry", and noted that a policy of demanding non-disclosure agreements for "goodwill" repairs would limit the number of defects Tesla owners reported to the NHTSA. The NHTSA stated they were aware that Tesla had entered into a "troublesome" non-disclosure agreement with one Model S owner regarding a failed suspension.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2013, the NHTSA awarded the original Tesla Model S its maximum safety rating of five stars. Tesla subsequently claimed that - based on the details of the test - it actually achieved 5.4 stars, prompting the NHTSA to release a statement reaffirming that it does not award more than five stars, and that Tesla was "misleading the public" by claiming in their marketing that the NHTSA had awarded them a higher rating.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2017, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) awarded the Model S their second-highest rating of "acceptable," denying the Model S a "Top Safety Pick" rating due to less than satisfactory results in a frontal overlap crash test of the vehicle and its "poor" headlights. Tesla responded by accusing groups like the IIHS of using methods "that suit their own subjective purposes", and dismissed the results by claiming that the Model S and Model X were "the safest cars in history" based on the NHTSA's older and less comprehensive tests. Reporters noted Tesla's dismissiveness of potential safety concerns, calling it "irresponsible" and "ridiculous."


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2018, after the Tesla Model 3 was awarded a five-star rating by the NHTSA, Tesla claimed that the Model 3 had "the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by NHTSA," prompting the NHTSA to publish a statement that it does not rank vehicles within the five-star category. In 2019, documents acquired by PlainSite revealed that the NHTSA had sent Elon Musk a cease and desist letter in response to this and several other "deceptive" and "inaccurate" statements about the NHTSA's ratings which were made by Tesla and promoted on social media by Musk. The NHTSA then referred the matter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection for further investigation.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Starting in 2015, many Tesla drivers have complained about "whompy wheels"—an issue where the car's suspension system breaks, sometimes causing a wheel to collapse or fall off the car. Rather than issue a recall on potentially defective suspensions, Tesla has released multiple technical service bulletins warning mechanics about suspension issues. In October 2020, Chinese authorities forced Tesla to recall 30,000 Model S and X cars due to the suspension issue.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In December 2021, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla's Passenger Play feature, which allowed riders to play games on the car's touchscreen even while the vehicle was in motion. The agency's inquiry included four models - S, X, Y and 3. A day after the investigation was officially launched, Tesla responded with an over-the-air update that disabled Passenger Play for vehicles in motion and making it only accessible while the car is parked. However, NHTSA stated it will continue with the investigation.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: According to Bethany McLean, skeptics have come to see Elon Musk's attempts at promoting Tesla as "more unhinged than iconoclastic", and noted his "penchant for making grandiose statements that he either knows are not true at the time he makes them, or that he has no real intent of following through on." Other critics go further and characterize Musk's overpromising as "unethical" or manipulative in order to "raise capital, collect customer deposits, or secure regulatory benefits." Musk has made numerous promises about Tesla that have failed to come true, including:


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In June 2018, Martin Tripp, a former employee at Giga Nevada, leaked documents to "Business Insider" that indicated Tesla was generating excessive amounts of waste and scrap material, which cost Tesla nearly $150 million for the first half of 2018. According to Bloomberg, after determining that Tripp was the source of this leak, Elon Musk set out to "destroy" him. A former Tesla security manager, Sean Gouthro, described a months-long campaign by Tesla to "hound" and harass Tripp, including hacking into Tripp's phone and having him followed by investigators. On June 20, the same day that Tesla sued Tripp for $167 million, an anonymous caller contacted Tesla and claimed that Tripp was planning a mass shooting at the Gigafactory. Police found Tripp unarmed and determined the threat was not credible; Tripp suggested the fake tip may have been made by Musk himself. The court ruled in Tesla's favor on September 17, 2020, though questions remain about the wasted materials and why they were left unaccounted for in corporate reports.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Also in June 2018, a former high-level safety official at Tesla named Carlos Ramirez sued the company for failing to treat injured workers and misclassifying worker injuries to avoid reporting them to authorities. Ramirez alleged that he was fired by Tesla in retaliation for raising concerns about these practices. , the case is unresolved.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In August 2018, a former Tesla employee named Karl Hansen filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC alleging that Tesla failed to disclose an alleged drug trafficking ring at the Nevada Gigafactory "involving the sale of significant quantities of cocaine and possibly crystal methamphetamine" for a Mexican drug cartel. Hansen also accused Tesla of spying on employees and hiding the theft of $37 million worth of copper and other raw materials. Hansen alleged that he was retaliated against and wrongfully terminated by Tesla for raising these issues internally. In 2019, Hansen filed a lawsuit related to these allegations; in 2020, the case was ordered to arbitration. In June 2022, the arbitrator filed an unopposed motion with the court stating Hansen "has failed to establish the claims...Accordingly his claims are denied, and he shall take nothing". In 2019, former factory supervisor Lynn Thompson also sued Tesla for terminating his security contract after he reported the same theft to local authorities. Thompson said that Elon Musk and other high-level company executives met to discuss the thefts. In 2020, the case lawsuit was stayed pending arbitration.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In November 2020, a former Tesla employee named Steven Henkes filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired by Tesla in retaliation for raising safety concerns about "unacceptable fire risks" in the company's solar installations. Tesla solar installations have caught fire at seven Walmart locations, as well as an Amazon warehouse and Tesla attempted to correct some installations in secret. , the case is unresolved.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla has been accused of gaming the California Air Resources Board system for zero-emission vehicle credits by launching a "battery swap" program that was never made available to the public. In 2018, the state of Oregon reclaimed $13 million from Tesla after an investigation found that SolarCity had falsely inflated the prices on 14 large-scale solar projects in 2010–2014 by over 100% in order to qualify for higher tax credits.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Since 2019, Tesla has sold a 94-mile range Model 3 in Canada in order to thwart their limits on electric vehicle tax incentives, which has cost Canadian taxpayers C$115 million. Aaron Wudrick, director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, accused Tesla of gaming the system by listing the no-frills model one dollar below the program's cut-off price of C$45,000. As of October 2020, Tesla had sold only 126 of the base model, versus 12,000 of the higher-end Standard Range Plus. Wudrick said, "Tesla and their wealthier customers are making off like bandits at taxpayers' expense."


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla has faced significant criticism regarding its Giga New York factory, which was built and equipped using nearly $1 billion in New York taxpayer money. Allegations in 2018 and 2019 include inflated job promises, cost overruns, construction delays, and a lack of effort from Musk.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Many observers have criticized Musk and Tesla's dependence on government subsidies. Critics have argued that these subsidies are inefficient and inequitable, as they go mainly to high-income households. As of 2015, Musk's companies Tesla, SolarCity, and SpaceX benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government subsidies. In December 2020, journalist Jacob Silverman in "The New Republic" accused Tesla and Musk of "grifting the government" and getting "unimaginably rich by maximally gaming the government's largesse".


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla has been noted for having an especially loyal and devoted fanbase, which has been likened to a cult, in particular a cult of personality around Elon Musk. According to "Vice", there are "quasi-religious overtones" in any debate about Tesla. Ed Niedermeyer characterizes the culture that Tesla has fostered as "ambitious, aggressive, ruthless, defensive, and unapologetic" and has speculated that Musk orchestrated a "hype campaign" to gain fans and positive media coverage.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla's loyal fan base has frequently turned toxic, attacking critics with "relentless fervor" while focused on harassing female journalists. An account in the Detroit Free Press illustrated the serious threats made by fans to a fellow Tesla owner and videoblogger for praising the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Scientist and engineer Missy Cummings was also the subject of personal harassment by Tesla advocates following the announcement of her joining the NHTSA as a senior advisor. Jennifer Homendy, head of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that the attacks against Cummings were a calculated attempt to distract from safety questions regarding Tesla's driver-assist and "full self-driving" technologies. Separately, Tesla fans became the subject of ridicule themselves after several fans independently tested Autopilot's automated braking system using children and homemade child-like dummies. Videos of some of the tests were later removed from YouTube for violating their child endangerment policy.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: An article from Deutschlandfunk describes how "online armies take on defense work and information policy for Elon Musk" via tech blogs and social media. In addition, Tesla's clean-energy division Tesla Energy is alleged to have a team dedicated to searching for customer complaints on social media and asking them to delete their comments. A separate team is dedicated to managing negative social media posts aimed specifically at Elon Musk. "Electrek", the largest electric car news site, has consistently promoted Tesla and has been accused of failing to disclose its conflicts of interest and close relationship with Tesla. Researchers found 186 bot accounts on Twitter that have consistently published positive sentiments about Tesla, which they say "may have buffered the Tesla narrative from an emergent group of critics, relieved downward pressure on the Tesla stock price and amplified pro-Tesla sentiment from the time of the firm's IPO in June 2010 to the end of 2020."


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In June 2019, Ed Niedermeyer reported that Tesla showed a pattern of "chronic noncompliance that stands in stark contrast to Tesla's public image as an environmental crusader" as related to air quality permits at Tesla's Fremont factory. Tesla repeatedly ignored air quality regulations, receiving notices from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District for 21 permit deviations.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla launched its Supercharger network in 2012 with the promise that its stations would be solar-powered, and only in 2021 did Tesla state the network power was 100% renewable, but through solar power on-site and through purchasing electricity which was matched to renewable generation. Despite the company's anti-carbon and anti-oil messaging, some Supercharger stations used diesel generators for backup power in 2015.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla's 2018 impact report was criticized for not disclosing details on its emissions or electricity consumption, though emissions are rising as they expand in China and India. Tesla's 2021 impact report was criticized for not disclosing enough about how their operations affect the environment.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Many critics, including "Consumer Reports", J.D. Power, and "What Car?", have noted the questionable quality and poor reliability of Tesla cars. For 2021, "Consumer Reports" rated Tesla's overall reliability as 27th worst out of 28 car brands. For 2022, "Consumer Reports" expects the reliability of the Model 3 to be average, and the Model S, X, and Y to be below average.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla used non-automotive grade materials in their 2012 and later Model S infotainment screens in order to have the largest car screen on the market, but they distorted over time. Tesla skipped pre-production testing before the Model 3 launch in 2017, which other major auto manufacturers consider a crucial part of the quality control process. Tesla's production of the Model 3 was criticized in 2018 for producing an abnormally high ratio of flawed vehicles and parts. Jonathon Klein, reporting for "The Drive", argued in 2019 that many of Tesla's quality problems stem from their cars being "rushed to market". For example, Tesla skipped a critical brake-and-roll test and reduced the number of welds on the Model 3 in order to meet quarterly production targets in 2018. Tesla vehicles have experienced noteworthy issues such as the roof detaching while driving on the highway in 2020. In September 2020, Model Y owners reported finding its cooling system to be held together with a "band-aid" of tape and faux wood. One manufacturing engineer in 2021 called an issue with Tesla vehicles having loose or missing suspension bolts "especially scary", since it indicates that Tesla does not have proper preventative measures in place to make sure parts are not missing. Chinese regulators rebuked Tesla in early 2021, urging them to strengthen their internal management in order to improve quality control after growing consumer complaints amidst Tesla's rapid sales expansion in China.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Recalls have become a recurring matter for the company as well: In February 2021, Tesla was forced to recall 135,000 Model S and Model X vehicles built between 2012 and 2018 due to using a flash memory device that was only rated to last five to six years and, between November 2021 and February 2022, there were eight recalls across models for various issues (some involving safety concerns).


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In the 2022 the German Technical Inspection Association (Technischer Überwachungsverein or TÜV) evaluated passenger cars whose main inspections took place between July 2020 and June 2021, and did its first-ever evaluation of the four most popular electric cars in Germany, with their defect rates:


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: With a defect rate of 10.7 percent, every tenth Tesla Model S failed the inspection and the Model S would end up in the bottom third of the 128 internal combustion engine (ICE) cars TÜV evaluated. The General German Automobile Club states the average defect rate for 2-3 year-old ICE cars is 4.7 percent.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2017, certain Tesla vehicles equipped with its Ludicrous performance mode had limited power output, as discovered by some Tesla owners in 2017. The power limits were connected to how frequently the drivers used Launch Mode; if a driver used it too much, the car's power output was restricted to prevent excessive wear and tear on components. Customers complained and the company removed the limiter.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla owners complained in 2019 about "nightmarish" repair delays, with some car owners waiting upwards of six months for repairs due to long wait-times for parts and insufficient service centers. Customers also complained in 2019 about their inability to contact a human employee for service issues. Tesla has pushed customers to book service appointments via their mobile app, which one owner called a "black hole" in 2019. Customers complained in 2019 about Tesla being sloppy and inconsistent in handling returns and refunds, with some customers waiting months to receive refunds. In March 2021, Tesla double-charged some customers for new cars; about a week after significant public outcry, Tesla apologized and the customers received refunds.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In early 2020, Tesla was criticized by Chinese publications and individuals for delivering Model 3 cars with lower-performance Autopilot hardware than promised. Specifically, Tesla's Hardware Version 3.0 for Autopilot had been cited as being included when buyers bought the vehicles, but, upon closer examination, the new owners said the cars featured only Version 2.5 of the hardware.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla has received special treatment and strong government support in China, gaining perks such as tax breaks, cheap financing, the ability to wholly own its Chinese operations, and assistance in building its Shanghai factory (Giga Shanghai) at breakneck speed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, according to "Bloomberg", one Tesla executive said, "Tesla didn't just have a green light from the government to get back to work—it had a flashing-sirens police escort."


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Musk has frequently praised China, a controversial stance due to deteriorating U.S.–Chinese relations, China's ongoing persecution of Uyghurs, and alleged human rights abuses in Hong Kong. James McGregor, chairman for Greater China at APCO Worldwide, said that foreign companies in China under Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping need to "be aware that the ultimate plan is for all the advanced technologies to be Chinese." McGregor added, "I hope that Elon is going in there with both eyes open."


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In August 2020, Congressional negotiators (led by then-U.S. Senator Cory Gardner) highlighted Tesla's ties to China as a potential national security risk for the United States.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In July 2021, "Bloomberg Businessweek" reported on Tesla's "fall from grace" in China due to data collection and safety issues. Tesla reportedly asked the Chinese government to censor criticism of Tesla on social media.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In January 2022, the Council on American–Islamic Relations, Senator Marco Rubio, and others urged Tesla to close its showroom in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, due to the ongoing Uyghur genocide in the Xinjiang region.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2017, "The Guardian" published a story about working conditions at Tesla Fremont, in which former and current Tesla employees publicly expressed concerns about worker treatment. Between 2014 and 2017, ambulances went to Tesla Fremont over 100 times to provide emergency services to workers exhibiting symptoms including fainting, dizziness, abnormal breathing and chest pains resulting from the physically demanding tasks associated with their positions. At the end of that period, Tesla Fremont employed over 10,000 workers.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla has acknowledged that its Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR, a measure of employee safety) exceeded the industry average between 2013 and 2016. Tesla did not release exact data over that period, claiming it is not representative of the factory's current operations. Musk defended Tesla's safety record and argued that the company had made significant improvement; in early 2017, Tesla added extra shifts and safety teams to improve conditions. However, when "The Guardian" reached out in 2017 to 15 current and/or former workers, each contradicted Musk's viewpoint. Jonathan Galescu, a production technician for the company, said, "I've seen people pass out, hit the floor like a pancake and smash their face open. They just send us to work around him while he's still laying on the floor." In February 2017, Jose Moran, a Tesla worker, blogged about the company's practices of mandatory overtime, frequent worker injuries and low wages. Both workers are involved with the United Auto Workers (UAW)'s current organizing campaign.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2018, The Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal published an investigation concluding that Tesla under-counted worker injuries to make its safety record appear better. It included findings such as the factory floor not having clearly marked pedestrian lanes and instead having lanes painted different shades of gray because Elon Musk does not like the color yellow. In addition, other safety signals (such as signs and warning beeps) were lowered in order to please Musk's aesthetic preferences. Susan Rigmaiden, former environmental compliance manager, commented: "If someone said, 'Elon doesn't like something,' you were concerned because you could lose your job." Tesla called Reveal's investigation an "ideologically motivated attack by an extremist organization working directly with union supporters to create a calculated disinformation campaign against Tesla." Reveal responded by publishing the details of their investigation, which included interviews of more than three dozen current and former employees and managers as well as the review of hundreds of pages of documents. Additionally, many of the interviewed safety professionals had no involvement in a unionization effort. A California regulator (Cal/OSHA) confirmed the 2018 under-reporting and stated that including those injuries would raise Tesla's 2018 TRIR from 6.2 to 6.5, compared to the automobile manufacturing average of 6.1.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla's policies for dealing with injured employees has been criticized. In 2017, workers alleged that Tesla's policies got in the way of workers reporting injuries. At Tesla, workers who reported injuries were moved to lighter work and also lower pay, while also being given access to supplemental insurance benefits. One injured worker reported that his pay went from $22 an hour to $10 an hour. To protect their incomes, many workers choose to work during their recovery from injury, in some cases causing further damage and pain.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: A California judge ruled in September 2019 that Tesla and Elon Musk had illegally sabotaged employee efforts to form a union. Union organizers voiced concerns about high injury rates and low wages. Organizers were illegally harassed by Tesla security guards, threatened with losing benefits such as stock options, and warned by supervisors that they could be fired. Tesla fired one employee, Richard Ortiz, who had been active in union organization efforts. In May 2021, the National Labor Relations Board upheld the 2019 court ruling, ordering that Ortiz be reinstated with back pay and that Musk delete an anti-union tweet.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In June 2022, a CNBC report found that Tesla paid MikeWorldWide to monitor a Tesla employee Facebook group and to conduct research on Tesla union organizers on social media from 2017 to 2018. MikeWorldWide monitored discussions on social networks alleging unfair labor practices at Tesla and monitored discussions on a sexual harassment lawsuit. Former and current Tesla employees told CNBC that they believe the company continues to monitor its workers on social media.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2020, "The Times" noted Tesla's dependence on cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo in their lithium-ion car batteries, which have been called "blood batteries" due to incidents of child labor and extremely poor working conditions. Tesla stated in 2020 that it is moving to cobalt-free batteries without giving a timeline. In the January–March 2022 quarter, half of Tesla's car batteries were cobalt-free.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In December 2020, "PingWest" highlighted poor working conditions at Giga Shanghai, calling it "Giga-Sweatshop". Employees reported being "crammed into tight workspace", intense manual labor, and office bullying. Many employees at Giga Shanghai quit after Tesla cancelled employee stock options and failed to keep its promise of paying an overtime allowance.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: The working conditions at Tesla's Fremont factory were criticized in 2021 by former Tesla worker Dennis Duran, who called it a "modern-day industrial sweatshop".


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla has faced numerous complaints over workplace harassment and racial discrimination, with one former Tesla worker who attempted to sue the employer describing it as "a hotbed of racist behavior". As of December 2020, only four percent of leadership at the company are African American and seventeen percent are women. A former black worker described the work environment at Tesla's Buffalo plant as a "very racist place". Tesla and SpaceX's treatment of Juneteenth in 2020 also came under fire.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Approximately 100 former employees have submitted signed statements alleging that Tesla discriminates specifically against African Americans and "allows a racist environment in its factories." Furthermore, in July 2021, former employee Melvin Berry received $1 million in his discrimination case in arbitration against Tesla after he claimed he was referred to by the n-word and forced to work longer hours at the Fremont plant. In October 2021, a jury found Tesla liable for the racial harassment of Owen Diaz at its Fremont facility during 2015–2016 and a total damage of $15 million by subsequent ruling of a judge.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: The accusations of racism culminated in February 2022 with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing suing Tesla for "discriminating against its Black workers." A further lawsuit regarding racism was raised by fifteen former and current employees in June 2022.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2021, seven women came forward with claims of having faced sexual harassment and discrimination while working at Tesla's Fremont factory. They accused the company of facilitating a culture of rampant sexual harassment. According to their filings and subsequent interviews, the women were consistently subjected to catcalling, unwanted advances, unwanted touching, and discrimination while at work. One of the seven, Brooks, told "The Washington Post" that "I was so tired of the unwanted attention and the males gawking at me I proceeded to create barriers around me just so I could get some relief" and "[t]hat was something I felt necessary just so I can do my job." Their stories range from intimate groping to being called out to the parking lot for sex. Each of the women feared calling Human Resources for help as their supervisors were often participants. Musk himself is not accused directly, but most of the women pressing charges believe their abuse is connected to the behavior of CEO Musk. They cited his crude remarks about women's bodies, wisecracks about starting a university that abbreviated to "T.IT.S", and his generally dismissive attitude towards reporting sexual harassment. Attorney David A. Lowe, their legal representative, stated, "What we're addressing for each of the lawsuits is just a shocking pattern of rampant harassment that exists at Tesla".


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2017 another woman accused Tesla of similar behavior and was subsequently fired. Her lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in 2019.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Musk has been criticized for his erratic behavior. "The Wall Street Journal" reported in 2017 that, after Musk insisted on branding his vehicles as "self-driving", he faced criticism from his engineers, some of them resigning in response, and one highlighting Musk's "reckless decision making that has potentially put customer lives at risk". In 2018, Tesla board members expressed concern regarding Musk's use of Ambien and recreational drugs. "Wired" noted in 2018 that Musk was known amongst employees for his "unpredictable rages", and Tesla employees were warned not to walk past Musk's desk because he was so prone to unexpectedly firing people. Ex-employees said in 2019 that Musk would change the direction of the company "literally overnight" based on what was making news on social media. Several professors in 2018 and 2019 noted Musk's narcissistic tendencies, and the problems this could cause for Tesla.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2019, Tesla was criticized for its high level of executive turnover compared to other technology companies. With the departure of William Berry in March 2022, Tesla had five general counsel departures since 2018. Several lower level lawyers in the company, such as deputy general counsels, have also left in 2021 and 2022.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Musk has openly criticized the media while Tesla famously dissolved its public relations department in 2020.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Reporter Michael Hiltzik has argued that Musk has a habit of promoting good news "relentlessly" about Tesla and himself, while creating sideshows to distract followers away from any bad news. In particular, Hiltzik pointed out that Tesla's announcement in February 2021 that it was investing $1.5 billion in Bitcoin coincided with news that the Chinese government had rebuked Tesla for poor quality control and consumer relations in China, as well as a report that the company's German factory (Giga Berlin) was facing construction delays and reduced government subsidies. Similarly, in July 2018, Bloomberg News reported that Elon Musk enlisted the help of the head of the Sierra Club specifically to deflect criticism over his donations to Republicans.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Musk has repeatedly disputed accounts provided by Tesla founder Martin Eberhard about Tesla's early history, and reached a settlement to be able to call himself a co-founder of Tesla despite not being one of the two founders.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency publicly denied a claim made by Musk that the agency made a mistake when testing the Model S sedan's mileage rating.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In early 2013, Tesla approached the "New York Times" to publish a story "Focused on future advancements in our Supercharger technology". In February 2013, the "Times" published an account on the newly installed Supercharger network on freeway between Boston and New York City. The author describes fundamental flaws in the Model S sedan, primarily that the range was severely lowered in the below-freezing temperatures of the American Northeast. At one point the vehicle died completely and needed to be towed to a charging station.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: After the story was published, Tesla stock dipped 3%. Three days later, Musk responded with a series of tweets, calling the article "fake", and followed up with a lengthy blog post disputing several of the article's claims. He called it a "salacious story" and provided data, annotated screenshots and maps obtained from recording equipment installed in the press vehicle as evidence that the New York Times had fabricated much of the story.In a statement, the Times stood by the accuracy of the story, calling it "completely factual". Author John Broder quickly issued a rebuttal in which he clarified and rejected many of the accusations made by Musk.During further investigation by the media, Musk said "the Model S battery never ran out of energy at any time, including when Broder called the flatbed truck." Auto blog Jalopnik contacted Rogers Automotive & Towing, the towing company Broder used. Their records showed that "the car's battery pack was completely drained." In his follow-up blog post, Broder said "The car's display screen said the car was shutting down, and it did. The car did not have enough power to move, or even enough to release the electrically operated parking brake."


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: In the days that followed, NYT public editor Margaret Sullivan published an opinion piece titled "Problems With Precision and Judgment, but Not Integrity, in Tesla Test". She concludes, "In the matter of the Tesla Model S and its now infamous test drive, there is still plenty to argue about and few conclusions that are unassailable." No legal action was pursued.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Tesla and Elon Musk have supported and promoted the cryptocurrency bitcoin. Tesla began accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for its products in March 2021, but reversed its decision in May 2021. Tesla and Musk have been criticized as being hypocritical, since Tesla markets itself as a sustainable and environmentally friendly company, while bitcoin is environmentally unfriendly due to the large amount of energy required to "mine" new bitcoin.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: After the company stopped accepting bitcoin for car payments, on May 12, 2021, Musk stated on Twitter that "Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin", which was, at the end of 2021, worth nearly $2 billion. In July 2022, Tesla stated in regulatory filings that it sold approximately 75% of its bitcoin in the March–June 2022 quarter.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Musk has also been accused of market manipulation by using his Twitter presence to pump up the price of bitcoin and dogecoin.


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: Prior to 2018, Tesla used modified versions of the Linux kernel and BusyBox in their vehicles without freely distributing the derivative software and its corresponding source code, which is mandatory under the licensing terms of these products, the GNU General Public License (GPL).


title: Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

text: From 2013 to 2018, a number of complaints were made to the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), which privately attempted to negotiate compliance before pursuing litigation against Tesla. They announced in 2018 that Tesla achieved partial compliance and had promised to release more of their modifications in the future. As of late 2019, the SFC claims that Tesla has not yet delivered on this promise.


title: F Troop

text: F Troop is a satirical American television sitcom Western about U.S. soldiers and Native Americans in the Wild West during the 1860s that originally aired for two seasons on ABC. It debuted in the United States on September 14, 1965, and concluded its run on April 6, 1967, with a total of 65 episodes. The first season of 34 episodes was broadcast in black-and-white, and the second season was in color.


title: F Troop

text: The series relied heavily on character-based humor, verbal and visual gags, slapstick, physical comedy, and burlesque comedy. The series played fast and loose with historical events and persons, and often parodied them for comical effect. Some indirect references were made to the culture of the 1960s, such as a "Playbrave Club" (a parody of a Playboy Club) and two rock and roll bands (one which performs songs written in the 1960s).


title: F Troop

text: "F Troop" is set at Fort Courage—a fictional United States Army outpost in the Old West, from near the end of the American Civil War in 1865 to at least 1867. A town of the same name is adjacent to the fort. Fort Courage was named for the fictitious General Sam Courage (portrayed by Cliff Arquette). The fort is constructed in the stockade style typically found in most American Westerns.


title: F Troop

text: The commanding officer is the gallant although laughably clumsy Captain Wilton Parmenter (Ken Berry), who is descended from a long line of distinguished military officers. He is awarded the Medal of Honor after accidentally instigating the final Civil War charge at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. Only a private in the Quartermaster Corps, he is ordered to fetch the commanding officer's laundry (presumably General Grant's). As Parmenter rides away to get the laundry, he repeatedly sneezes. A group of Union soldiers mistake his sneezing for an order to charge, turning the tide of the battle and "earning" Parmenter the nickname "The Scourge of Appomattox". He also is awarded the Purple Heart after he is accidentally pricked in the chest by his father and commanding officer while receiving his first medal, making him known as "the only soldier in history to get a medal for getting a medal." His superiors reward his action by promoting him to captain, only to give Parmenter command of remote Fort Courage, a dumping ground for the Army's "least useful" soldiers and misfits; the Secretary of War (William Woodson) notes, "Why, the Army sent them out there hoping they'd all desert." Indeed, of the three commanding officers at Fort Courage before Captain Parmenter, two "did" desert, while the third suffered a nervous breakdown.


title: F Troop

text: Much of the humor of the series derives from the scheming of Captain Parmenter's somewhat crooked but amiable non-commissioned officers, Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Corporal Randolph Agarn (Larry Storch). They, in league with the local (fictitious) American Indian tribe, the Hekawis—led by Chief Wild Eagle (Frank de Kova)—are forever seeking to expand and conceal their shady business deals covertly and collectively referred to as "O'Rourke Enterprises". Initially, rations and pay were drawn for 30 men at Fort Courage, though only 17 are actually accounted for (the other 13, according to O'Rourke, are Indian scouts who only come to the fort at night and leave before dawn). The pay of the fictitious scouts is apparently used to help finance the dealings of O'Rourke Enterprises. Although O'Rourke and Agarn try to take full advantage of Captain Parmenter's innocence and "naïveté", they are also very fond of and fiercely protective of him, and woe be to anyone attempting to harm him. Parmenter also struggles to exert his authority outside the ranks. Very bashful, he tries to escape the matrimonial plans of his girlfriend, shopkeeper–postmistress Jane Angelica Thrift, known locally as "Wrangler Jane" (played by Melody Patterson, who was awarded the role at the age 16, due to a forged birth certificate)—though he becomes a bit more affectionate toward her during the second season.


title: F Troop

text: The episode "Captain Parmenter, One Man Army" reveals that all of the soldiers (troopers) of "F Troop" have been at Fort Courage for at least 20 months, meaning they spent at least part of the Civil War there. They are so incompetent that when they are formed into a firing squad in the episode titled "The Day They Shot Agarn", all of their shots miss Agarn despite the fact they are standing only a few yards from him. The most common running gag through both seasons of the series (shown in every first season opening except for the pilot episode) involves the fort's lookout tower. Every time the cannon is fired in salute, the lit fuse burns out. Corporal Agarn or Private Dobbs then steps up and kicks the cannon's right wheel, collapsing the cannon and causing it to fire off target. The cannonball strikes a support leg of the lookout tower, bringing it crashing to the ground along with the trooper in it (in the opening credits, this coincides with the line in the lyrics, "Before they resume with a bang and a boom.") In one episode, an arrow brings the tower crashing down, and in another, Parmenter yanks down the tower with a lasso. In another episode, musical instruments being played loudly cause the tower to collapse. The fort water tower is also a frequent victim of this sort of gag. In one variation of the tower gag, Vanderbilt, Parmenter, O'Rourke, and Agarn are standing in the water tower platform when a lone Indian, "Bald Eagle" (played by Don Rickles), tries to capture Fort Courage by scaling the tower and jumping on the platform; the combined weight causes the floor to collapse and "Bald Eagle" to be captured. In another variation of the cannon gag, the cannon collapses as it is fired, and blows up the fort's powder magazine, causing Agarn to be saved from a vengeful Chief Geronimo.


title: F Troop

text: The Hekawi appear to be a very small tribe consisting of only one small village. They live an indeterminate distance from Fort Courage, though the directions to their camp are described as: "Make right turn at big rock that look like bear, then make left turn at big bear that look like rock.” In "Reunion for O'Rourke", Chief Wild Eagle explains how the tribe got its name: "Many moons ago, tribe leave Massachusetts because Pilgrims ruin neighborhood! Tribe travel west, over stream, over river, over mountain, over mountain, over river, over stream! Then come big day... tribe fall over cliff. That when Hekawi get name. Medicine man say to my ancestor, "I think we lost. Where the heck are we?". "Where the heck are we?" became "We're the Hekawi" (the original name for the tribe in the series, 'Fugawi', was changed after the censors discovered the sentence "Where the Fugawi?").


title: F Troop

text: The Hekawis are 50/50 partners in everything they do with O'Rourke Enterprises. They make most of the company's products, usually in the form of Indian souvenirs (on a commercial scale) and whiskey for the town saloon. They are a peace-loving tribe (mainly due to cowardice), and are self described as "the tribe that invented the peace pipe," "lovers, not fighters," and "proud descendents of cowards." Profit minded, the Hekawis look to be paid when O'Rourke needs them to do something like orchestrate a fake attack on the fort, and haggle over the price and how many braves would be in the attack (when O'Rourke balks at the price, the Chief reminds him that the Apache will gladly make a real attack on the fort for free). Because it had been such a long time, though, since they had been on the "warpath," when the series started, Agarn has to teach the Hekawis how to do a war dance, a clip of which was shown in the first-season opening credits. Anytime the tribe wants to contact the fort, they use smoke signals, which only O'Rourke can read. In one episode (and referred to in another), the Hekawis have a "Playbrave Club" (a parody of the Playboy Club) complete with go-go dancing and 1960s-style music.


title: F Troop

text: As a sly jest based on the myth that Native Americans are the 13th tribe of Israel, many of the Hekawi Indians were played by veteran Yiddish comedians using classic Yiddish shtick. The regular Indian characters (none of whom were played by Native American actors) include:


title: F Troop

text: Many established actors and comedians appeared as guest stars in the series, including Bernard Fox (as the master of disguise, British Major Bently Royce), Don Rickles (as the crazy renegade Indian Bald Eagle, son of Chief Wild Eagle), Jack Elam (as the outlaw gunfighter Sam Urp), John Dehner (as conman Prof. Cornelius Clyde), Lee Meriwether (as Lily O'Reilly who is out to take over the town saloon), Jamie Farr (as Geronimo's friend and standup comic Standup Bull), George Gobel (as Wrangler Jane's cousin Henry Terkel, whose inventions parody the telephone, radio, and steam automobile), Pat Harrington Jr. (as secret agent "B. Wise" – an imitation of Don Adams's character on "Get Smart"), Zsa Zsa Gabor (as the Gypsy Marika), Willard Waterman (as former Capt. Bill "Cannonball" McCormick, F Troop's first commanding officer), Paul Petersen (as Wild Eagle's nephew and Sitting Bull's sharpshooting son Johnny Eagle Eye), Paul Lynde (as the phony singing Canadian Mountie Sgt. Ramsden), Harvey Korman (as the wacky Prussian Col. Heindreich von Zeppel), Milton Berle (as Wise Owl), Julie Newmar (as the long lost Indian daughter Yellow Bird), Jacques Aubuchon (as Gideon D. Jeffries her real father), Jay Novello (as Emilio Barberini), Sterling Holloway (as nearsighted Sheriff Pat Lawton), Mako (as a Samurai warrior), Phil Harris (as the 147-year old warmongering chief, Flaming Arrow), Vincent Price (as the spooky Count Sforza), and Cliff Arquette (Charley Weaver – as Gen. Sam Courage).


title: F Troop

text: Other notable and well-known character actors who appeared in the series are (usually only once or twice): Henry Brandon (as a chief of the vicious, but fictitious, Shug Indian tribe), Jay Sheffield (as Lt. Jefferson Hawkes), Alan Hewitt (as Col. Malcolm), Don "Red" Barry (as Col. Donnely), Willis Bouchey (as Col. Herman Saunders), Forrest Lewis (as Doc. Emmett), Vic Tayback and Robert G. Anderson (as the notorious Colton Brothers), Linda Marshall (as Parmenter's old girlfriend from Philadelphia), Laurie Sibbald (as Flying Sparrow and Silver Dove), John Stephenson (as General Custer), Nydia Westman (as Dobb's mother), Patrice Wymore (as Laura Lee and Peggy Gray), Parley Baer (as Col. Watkins), MaKee K. Blaisdell (as War Cloud), Jackie Joseph (as Agarn's old girlfriend Betty Lou MacDonald), Mike Mazurki (as a very big Geronimo), Tony Martinez (as Felipe), Del Moore (as Dapper Dan Fulbright), Andrew Duggan (as the Indian-hating Major Chester Winster, inventor of the Chestwinster 76 rifle – a parody of the famous Winchester 73 rifle), Abbe Lane (as the beautiful counterspy Lorelei Duval), Jackie Loughery (as the Gypsy Tanya), Marjorie Bennett (as Ella Vorhees), Eve McVeagh (as Wilma McGee, O'Rourke's old girlfriend from Steubenville, Ohio and now a widow woman from Brooklyn, NY), Ben Gage (as Mike O'Hanlon), Richard Reeves (as Jim Sweeney, O'Rourke's old friend), Victor Jory (as Apache Chief Mean Buffalo), James Griffith (as sharpshooting Sgt. Crawford), Cathy Lewis (as Whispering Breeze, mother of Johnny Eagle Eye, wife of Sitting Bull and sister to Wild Eagle), Les Brown, Jr (as Lt. Mark Harrison), George Barrows (as Pecos), Paul Sorensen (as Tombstone), Mary Young (as the Widow O'Brien), Charles Lane (as Mr. S. A. MacGuire), Don Beddoe (as the Hermit), Lew Parker (as George C. Bragan), Tol Avery (as Derby Dan McGurney), Tommy Farrell (as Jenks), Richard X. Slattery (as Col. William Bartlett), Joby Baker (as Mario Maracucci), Letícia Román (as Gina Barberini), I. Stanford Jolley (as Col. Ferguson), George Furth (as Capt. Jonathan W. Blair), Pepper Curtis (as Lily), Peter Leeds (as Mr Larson), Victor French (as the deserter Cpl. Matt Delaney), Fred Clark (as Major Hewitt), Arch Johnson (as Col. Adams), Mary Wickes (as marriage broker Samantha Oglesby), Joyce Jameson (as Sally Tyler), and Charles Drake (as Major Terence McConnell). Lowell George, later the leader of the rock group Little Feat, appeared with his earlier band The Factory on an episode as a group called the Bedbugs. William Conrad was the uncredited voice announcer in the first episode "Scourge of the West".


title: F Troop

text: Although the show's opening credits claim "F Troop" was created by Richard Bluel, a final arbitration by the Writers Guild of America eventually gave Seaman Jacobs, Ed James, and Jim Barnett credit.


title: F Troop

text: Episode writers included Arthur Julian (who, alone, wrote 29 of the 65 episodes; he also appeared as an undertaker in his "Survival of the Fittest" script), Stan Dreben ("Green Acres"), Seaman Jacobs, Howard Merrill ("The Dick Van Dyke Show"), Ed James, Austin and Irma Kalish, and the highly successful comedy writing duo of Tom Adair and James B. Allardice, who collaborated on some of the most successful American TV sitcoms of the 1960s, including "The Munsters"; "My Three Sons"; "Gomer Pyle, USMC", and "Hogan's Heroes".


title: F Troop

text: The series was directed by Charles Rondeau and Leslie Goodwins, among many others, and produced by William T. Orr and Hy Averback. I. Stanford Jolley, Forrest Tucker's former father-in-law, appeared as Colonel Ferguson in the 1966 episode "Survival of the Fittest". The entire series was shot on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California.


title: F Troop

text: The plot engine of O'Rourke and Agarn's moneymaking schemes echoed that of an American television series of the late 1950s, "The Phil Silvers Show", which had featured swindling by the wily Sergeant Bilko, also based at a "peacetime" Army base — albeit in the mid-20th century, although with the twist of involving local preindustrial aboriginals with US military men in money-making schemes. It also echoes some of the money-making schemes found in the American television series "McHale's Navy", which was written by some of the same writers from the "Bilko" show.


title: F Troop

text: The concept of misfit troops sent out West bears some resemblance to the 1964 Western comedy "Advance to the Rear".


title: F Troop

text: Melody Patterson lied about her age to get the part of Wrangler Jane. She was 15 at the time of her audition, but turned 16 by the time filming started. As a result, the romance between Jane and Parmenter was kept very low key during the first season. By the time production of the second season started, Patterson had turned 17 and Parmenter's affections were made stronger and Jane was made more sexually aggressive (Patterson was 10 days short of turning 18 when the last episode was aired).


title: F Troop

text: The show's ratings were still healthy after the second year (ranked number 40 out of 113 shows for the 1966–67 season, with a 31.3 share), but according to Tucker, Warner Bros.' new owners, Seven Arts, discontinued production because they thought it was wasteful for so much of the Warner Ranch to be taken up by a single half-hour TV show. Producer William Orr says the studio was also unhappy with the added costs of producing the show in color during its second season.


title: F Troop

text: Although only two seasons were produced, "F Troop" enjoyed a healthy second life in syndication. The show was a particular favorite on Nick at Nite in the 1990s, running from 1991 to 1995 despite an archive of only 65 episodes. Reruns began airing on TV Land from 1997 to 2000, GoodLife TV Network in 2004, and on Me-TV on September 2, 2013. Circle has carried the show since 2020. In the United Kingdom, reruns commenced in October 2017 on Sky TV channel Forces TV.


title: F Troop

text: Reruns premiered on the ITV network in the United Kingdom on October 29, 1968, and were screened repeatedly until July 16, 1974. The series was also broadcast nationally in Australia on ABC-TV, in Ireland on Telefís Éireann, and in Italy during the '80s as a "filler" show during summers (when ratings usually dropped due to large numbers of people going on holidays).


title: F Troop

text: In 1998, 30 of the series' 65 episodes were digitally remastered and released on 10 VHS tapes by Columbia House.


title: F Troop

text: On September 27, 2005, Warner Home Video released the first "F Troop" DVD compilation as part of its "Television Favorites" series. The six-episode DVD included three black-and-white episodes and three color episodes. Following the successful sales from the "Television Favorites" sampler release, Warner Home Video released "F Troop: The Complete First Season," with all 34 black-and-white episodes included. "The Complete Second Season" of "F Troop" was released on DVD on May 29, 2007. Both seasons of this show have been released on DVD by Warner Home Video. The DVD features interviews with original "F Troop" members, writers, and other production personnel, as well as behind-the-scenes information. However, only one major actor from the series, Ken Berry, was interviewed for the half-hour special. Also, audio segments were included of an interview with actor Joe Brooks (Private Vanderbilt).


title: F Troop

text: The complete series has been released on iTunes in both standard-definition and remastered high-definition television. For the high-definition remaster, the original film elements were rescanned into high-resolution video.


title: Chandraprakash Dwivedi

text: Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi is an Indian actor, film director and screenwriter, who is best known for directing the 1991 television epic "Chanakya" in which he also played the title role of the political strategist Chanakya and an inspiration for millions. He has also directed the 1996 television series "Mrityunjay" which is based on the life of Karna, one of the main characters of the epic Mahabharata, and he won a "Screen Videocon Best Director" award for the same. His other major work is the 2003 film "Pinjar", a tragic love story set amidst the Hindu-Muslim tensions during the Partition of India, based on Amrita Pritam's novel of the same name. He also wrote and directed Akshay Kumar starrer Samrat Prithviraj (2022).


title: Chandraprakash Dwivedi

text: Dr. Dwivedi is a qualified medical professional who gave up his profession because of a deep interest in Indian literature, and began working in theatre instead.From 1990 to 1992, he wrote, directed and acted in the TV serial Chanakya, which took India by storm with its crafted dialog, mastery of Hindi and lessons on politics and philosophy. In the late 1990s, he held the position of programming division head at Zee TV. During his stint at Zee, he tried his hand at retelling the Mahabharata (Ek Aur Mahabharat) but had to abort the experiment after 14 episodes due to a poor response from advertisers and viewers. The rerun of "Chanakya" too failed to attract advertisers. Dwivedi wrote the dialogues for the 2001 epic Doordarshan television series on Chhatrapati Shivaji.


title: Chandraprakash Dwivedi

text: In February 2008, Bobby Bedi announced that he had been planning a new Mahabharata with Dwivedi as director. However, in April, Dwivedi disassociated himself from the project citing pressure brought on as a result of competition from Ekta Kapoor's Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki.


title: Chandraprakash Dwivedi

text: In 2008, Dr. Dwivedi directed a television serial based on the Upanishads titled "Upanishad Ganga". He is presently working on "The Legend of Kunal", a film based on the life of Kunal, the son of Emperor Asoka. In 2009, the South Asian Cinema Foundation honoured Dwivedi with its "Cultural Catalyst Award" "in recognition of his commitment to exploring India's ancient culture and history in television and popular cinema."


title: Chandraprakash Dwivedi

text: In January 2011, his film "Mohalla Assi" set around Assi Ghat of Varanasi and based on Dr Kashi Nath Singh's famous novel, went into production with shooting starting in Film City, Mumbai, with Sunny Deol as lead actor.


title: Chandraprakash Dwivedi

text: His next film was "Zed Plus". This film was a political satire and comedy, starring Adil Hussain (best known for "Life of Pi" and "English Vinglish") and Mona Singh (of Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi fame). K K Raina, Sanjay Mishra, Kulbhushan Kharbanda are playing other important roles in this film.


title: Chandraprakash Dwivedi

text: He has directed a movie on Prithviraj Chauhan produced by Yash Raj Films, starring Akshay Kumar in a lead role. The film Samrat Prithviraj was released on June 3, 2022 across India in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the time, Charles VIII, who died without direct heirs in 1498.


title: Louis XII

text: Before his accession to the throne of France, he was known as Louis of Orléans and was compelled to be married to his disabled and supposedly sterile cousin Joan by his second cousin, King Louis XI. By doing so, Louis XI hoped to extinguish the Orléans cadet branch of the House of Valois.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis of Orléans was one of the great feudal lords who opposed the French monarchy in the conflict known as the Mad War. At the royal victory in the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in 1488, Louis was captured, but Charles VIII pardoned him and released him. He subsequently took part in the Italian War of 1494–1498 as one of the French commanders.


title: Louis XII

text: When Louis XII became king in 1498, he had his marriage with Joan annulled by Pope Alexander VI and instead married Anne of Brittany, the widow of his cousin Charles VIII. This marriage allowed Louis to reinforce the personal Union of Brittany and France.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis persevered in the Italian Wars, initiating a second Italian campaign for the control of the Kingdom of Naples. Louis conquered the Duchy of Milan in 1500 and pushed forward to the Kingdom of Naples, which fell to him in 1501. Proclaimed King of Naples, Louis faced a new coalition gathered by Ferdinand II of Aragon and was forced to cede Naples to Spain in 1504.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis XII did not encroach on the power of local governments or the privileges of the nobility, in opposition with the long tradition of the French kings to attempt to impose absolute monarchy in France. A popular king, Louis was proclaimed "Father of the People" () in 1506 by the Estates-General of Tours for his reduction of the tax known as taille, legal reforms, and civil peace within France.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis, who remained Duke of Milan after the second Italian War, was interested in further expansion in the Italian Peninsula and launched a third Italian War (1508–1516), which was marked by the military prowess of the Chevalier de Bayard.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis XII died in 1515 without a male heir. He was succeeded by his cousin and son-in-law Francis from the Angoulême cadet branch of the House of Valois.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis d'Orléans was born on 27 June 1462 in the Château de Blois, Touraine (in the modern French department of Loir-et-Cher). The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves. His father was almost seventy years old when Louis was born. Louis was only three years old when he succeeded as Duke of Orléans upon the death of his father in 1465.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis XI, who had become king of France in 1461, became highly distrustful of the close relationship between the Orleanists and the Burgundians and began to oppose the idea of an Orleanist ever coming to the throne of France. However, Louis XI might have been more influenced in this opinion by his opposition to the entire Orleanist faction of the royal family than by the actual facts of this paternity case. Despite any alleged doubts that King Louis XI had, the King, nevertheless, became "godfather" of the newborn.


title: Louis XII

text: King Louis XI died on 30 August 1483. He was succeeded to the throne of France by his thirteen-year-old son, Charles VIII. Nobody knew the direction which the new king (or more accurately his regent and oldest sister, Anne of France) would take in leading the kingdom. Accordingly, on 24 October 1483, a call went out for a convocation of the Estates General of the French kingdom. In January 1484, deputies of the Estates General began to arrive in Tours, France. The deputies represented three different "estates" in society. The First Estate was the Church; in France this meant the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Estate was composed of the nobility and the royalty of France. The Third Estate was generally composed of commoners and the class of traders and merchants in France. Louis, the current Duke of Orleans and future Louis XII, attended as part of the Second Estate. Each estate brought its chief complaints to the Estates General in hopes to have some impact on the policies that the new King would pursue.


title: Louis XII

text: The First Estate (the Church) wanted a return to the "Pragmatic Sanction". The Pragmatic Sanction had been first instituted by King Charles VII, the former King Charles VIII's grandfather. The Pragmatic Sanction excluded the papacy from the process of appointing bishops and abbots in France. Instead, these positions would be filled by appointment made by the cathedrals and monastery chapters themselves. All church prelates within France would be appointed by the King of France without reference to the pope.


title: Louis XII

text: The deputies representing the Second Estate (the nobility) at the Estates General of 1484 wanted all foreigners to be prohibited from command positions in the military. The deputies of the Third Estate (the merchants and traders) wanted taxes to be drastically reduced and that the revenue needs of the crown be met by reducing royal pensions and the number of offices. All three of the estates were in agreement on the demand for an end to the sale of government offices. By 7 March 1484, the King announced that he was leaving Tours because of poor health. Five days later the deputies were told that there was no more money to pay their salaries, and the Estates General meekly concluded its business and went home. The Estates General of 1484 is called, by historians, the most important Estates General until the Estates General of 1789. Important as they were, many of the reforms suggested at the meeting of the Estates General were not immediately adopted. Rather the reforms would only be acted on when Louis XII came to the throne.


title: Louis XII

text: Since Charles VIII was only thirteen years of age when he became king, his older sister Anne was to serve as regent until Charles VIII became 20 years old. From 1485 through 1488, there was another war against the royal authority of France conducted by a collections of nobles. This war was the Mad War (1485–1488), Louis's war against Anne. Allied with Francis II, Duke of Brittany, Louis confronted the royal army at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier on 28 July 1488 but was defeated and captured. Pardoned three years later, Louis joined his cousin King Charles VIII in campaigns in Italy, leading the vanguards of the army.


title: Louis XII

text: All four children of Charles VIII died in infancy. The French interpretation of the Salic Law permitted claims to the French throne only by male agnatic descendants of French kings. This made Louis, the great-grandson of King Charles V, the most senior claimant as heir of Charles VIII. Thus, Louis, Duke of Orleans, succeeded to the throne on 7 April 1498 as Louis XII upon the death of King Charles VIII.


title: Louis XII

text: Although he came late (and unexpectedly) to power, Louis acted with vigour, reforming the French legal system, reducing taxes, and improving the government much like his contemporary Henry VII did in England. To meet his budget after having reduced taxes, Louis XII reduced the pensions for the nobility and for foreign princes. In religious policy, Louis XII reinstituted the Pragmatic Sanction, which established the Roman Catholic Church in France as a "Gallic Church" with most of the power of appointment in the hands of the king or other French officials. As noted above, these reforms had been proposed at the meeting of the Estates General in 1484.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis was also skilled in managing his nobility, including the powerful Bourbon faction, greatly contributing to the stability of French government. In the Ordinance of Blois of 1499 and the Ordinance of Lyon issued in June 1510 he extended the powers of royal judges and made efforts to curb corruption in the law. Highly complex French customary law was codified and ratified by the royal proclamation of the Ordinance of Blois of 1499. The Ordinance of Lyon tightened up the tax collection system requiring, for instance, that tax collectors forward all money to the government within eight days after they collected it from the people. Fines and loss of office were prescribed for violations of this ordinance.


title: Louis XII

text: The French Kingdom under Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1494 to protect the Duchy of Milan from the threats of the Republic of Venice. At the time, the Duchy of Milan was one of the most prosperous regions of Europe. Louis, the current Duke of Orleans and future King Louis XII, joined Charles VIII on this campaign. The French Kingdom was responding to an appeal for assistance from Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. The invasion set off a series of wars that would last from 1494 until 1559 and would become known as the "Italian Wars".


title: Louis XII

text: In 1495, Ludovico Sforza betrayed the French by changing sides in the war and joining the anti-French League of Venice (sometimes called the "Holy League"). This left Louis, the Duke of Orleans, in an awkward and inferior military position at the Battle of Fornovo on 6 July 1495. As a result, Louis had come to hate Ludovico Sforza. Accordingly, even before he became King of France, Louis began to claim the Duchy of Milan as his own inheritance, which should have come to his by right of his paternal grandmother Valentina Visconti.


title: Louis XII

text: On this occasion he tried to conquer the Duchy of Milan, weakened by an economic crisis, and on 11 June 1495 he occupied with his troops the city of Novara,which was given to him for treason. He was on the verge of subjugating the Moro, who proved unable to cope with the situation, but clashed with the fierce opposition of his wife Beatrice d'Este, who forced him to a long and exhausting siege from which he finally came out defeated.


title: Louis XII

text: After becoming king in 1499, Louis XII pursued his ambition to claim Milan in what is known as the "Great Italian War" (1499–1504) or "King Louis XII's War". However, before initiating any war Louis XII needed to deal with the international threats that he faced. In August 1498, he signed a peace treaty with the Emperor Maximillian I of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Louis XII

text: With Maximillian I neutralized, Louis wanted to turn his attention to King Henry VII of England. However, Henry was then pursuing a marriage between his eldest son, Arthur, and Catherine of Aragon, the Infanta of Spain. Thus he needed to detach Spain from its close relations with England before he could deal with Henry VII. Furthermore, Spain was then a member of the anti-French League of Venice. Ferdinand of Aragon, king of the newly unified Spain, directed all relations between Spain and the French on behalf of himself and his queen, Isabella I of Castile. Ferdinand was so hostile to France that he had founded the anti-French League of Venice in 1495. In August 1498, Louis XII succeeded in signing a treaty with Spain that ignored all the territorial disputes between France and Spain and merely pledged mutual friendship and non-aggression.


title: Louis XII

text: This allowed enough freedom for Louis XII to start negotiating with Scotland for an alliance. Actually, Louis was merely seeking to revive the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland that had been in existence since King Philippe IV of France first recognised Robert the Bruce (1306–1329) as King of Scotland in 1309. In early 1499, the old alliance between Scotland and France was renewed and the attentions of England were drawn northwards towards Scotland rather than southwards towards continental Europe.


title: Louis XII

text: With the major powers preoccupied or pledged to peace with France, Louis XII could attend to two other neighbours on his border: the Swiss Confederation and the Duchy of Savoy. In March 1499, Louis signed an agreement with the Swiss Confederation that promised 20,000 francs as an annual subsidy for simply allowing the French to recruit an unspecified number of troops in the Confederation. In exchange, Louis promised to protect the Confederation from any aggression from Maximillian and the Holy Roman Empire. Louis opened negotiations with the Duchy of Savoy and by May 1499 had hammered out an agreement that allowed French troops to cross Savoy to reach the Duchy of Milan. The agreement with Savoy also allowed France to purchase supplies and to recruit troops in Savoy. Finally, Louis was ready to march into Italy.


title: Louis XII

text: The French army had been a potent force in 1494 when Charles VIII had first invaded Italy. However, during the remainder of Charles VIII's reign, the army had been allowed to deteriorate through neglect. Ever since becoming king, Louis XII had been rebuilding the French army. Now he could put it to use.


title: Louis XII

text: On 10 August 1499, after marching across Savoy and through the town of Asti, the French army crossed the border into the Duchy of Milan. Contrary to the wishes of the Second Estate (the nobles and royalty of France), expressed at the Estates General in 1484, this French army was being led by a foreigner, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio. Marshall Trivulzio had been in the service of the French throne since the reign of Louis XI, but he had been born and raised in Milan. The French army that Marshal Trivulzio now commanded consisted of 27,000 men of which 10,000 were mounted. The French army was also supplied with 5,000 Swiss mercenaries. In the campaign of 1499, the French army surrounded the fortified town of Rocca di Arazzo in the western part of the Duchy of Milan. After five hours of bombardment by the French artillery batteries, the walls of Rocca di Arazzo were breached and the town was taken by the French. Louis XII had ordered his army to massacre the garrison and many civilians as a message to the other towns in the Duchy against resistance to the French army. The legal rationale for the massacre at Rocca di Arazzo was that defenders of the town were traitors because they had risen up in arms against their rightful lord, Louis XII. The French repeated the episode at Annone, the next fortified town on the road to the city of Milan. This time the massacre had the desired effect, as three more fortified towns surrendered without a fight. Marshall Trivulzio then brought the French Army up to the gates of town of Alessandro, and his batteries began battering the walls of the town on 25 August 1499. At first, a vigorous defense was mounted by the garrison, but on 29 August 1499, the city gave up and the garrison and the governor of the city slipped out of town before dawn.


title: Louis XII

text: Marshal Trivulzio now became aware that the Venetian army, allies of the Duchy of Milan, were crossing into the Duchy from the east in an attempt to aid the Milanese army before it was too late. Accordingly, Marshal Trivulzio marched his army to Pavia, the last fortified town in the Duchy of Milan. With French troops already near Pavia, a short distance west of the city of Milan, Lodovico Sforza determined that it was useless to continue resisting the French. Accordingly, on the night of 2 September 1499, Sforza and a band of cavalry fled Milan, heading northward to the Holy Roman Empire. Louis XII, staying in Lyon, heard about the surrender of Milan on 17 September 1499. He immediately left Lyon and on 6 October 1499, Louis XII made his triumphant entry into Milan. Marshal Trevulzio presented the key to the city to Louis, who in turn appointed Marshal Trivulzio as the temporary French governor of Milan. Later, Louis appointed Georges d' Amboise as the permanent governor of Milan. In an attempt to win popularity with the public in Milan, Louis lowered the old Sforza taxes by as much as one-third.


title: Louis XII

text: Meanwhile, Ludovico Sforza had been gathering an army, mainly among the Swiss, to take Milan back. In mid-January 1500, his army crossed the border into the Duchy of Milan and marched toward the city of Milan. Upon hearing the news of Sforza's return, some of his partisans in the city rose up. On 1 February 1500, Marshal Trivulzio decided that he could not hold the city, and the French retreated to the fortresses west of the city. Sforza was welcomed back into the city by a joyous crowd of his supporters on 5 February 1500. Louis XII raised another army under Louis de La Trémoille and sent him to recapture Milan. By the time Trémoille reached the forts west of Milan where Marshal Trivulzio and his force were holding out, the French army had swollen to 30,000 men by recruitment along the way. Many of these new recruits in the French army were Swiss mercenaries. The government of the Swiss Confederation heard about the coming battle and forbade any Swiss soldier from fighting against a fellow Swiss, which effectively subtracted all the Swiss from both sides for this particular battle. These troops then started to march back home to Switzerland. This had a much more damaging effect on Sforza's army, because his army was composed of a larger proportion of Swiss than the French army under La Trémoille.


title: Louis XII

text: Faced with the return of the French and his own greatly reduced force, Sforza decided to slip out of Milan as he had done previously. This time, however, Sforza was captured and spent the rest of his life in a French prison. Despite Milan's openly warm welcome of Sforza (which Louis XII regarded as "treasonous"), Louis XII was very generous to the city in victory. While Sforza had been in charge of Milan, the export of grain had been forbidden. Now the French reopened the trade in grain, setting off a decade of prosperity in Milan. Milan was to remain a French stronghold in Italy for twelve years.


title: Louis XII

text: Using Milan as his firmly established base, Louis XII began to turn his attention to other parts of Italy. The city of Genoa agreed to the appointment of Philip of Cleves, a cousin of Louis XII, as its new governor. Additionally, the French king now began to espouse his claim to the Kingdom of Naples, though the legal rationale for this claim was weaker than for his claim to Milan, stemming only from his position as the successor to Charles VIII. Nonetheless, Louis XII pursued the claim with vigor.


title: Louis XII

text: The presence of several French garrisons in southern Italy, the remnants of Charles VIII's first invasion of Italy, provided Louis XII with a toehold in southern Italy from which he hoped to enforce his claim to the Kingdom of Naples. However, Louis first had to deal with a recurring problem in northern Italy. In 1406, the city of Pisa was conquered by Florence but had been in constant revolt almost ever since. In 1494, the Pisans successfully overthrew the Florentine governors of the city. The Florentines requested aid from the French to recapture Pisa, as the city of Florence had long been an ally of France in Italian affairs. However, Louis and his advisers were miffed at Florence because in the recent fight against Sforza, Florence had chosen to abandon France and remain strictly neutral. The French knew that they would need Florence in the coming campaign in the Kingdom of Naples – French troops would need to cross Florentine territory on their way to Naples and they would need Florentine agreement to do so. Accordingly, a French army including 600 knights and 6,000 Swiss infantrymen under the command of Sire de Beaumont was sent to Pisa. On 29 June 1500, a combined French and Florentine force laid siege to Pisa and set up batteries around the town. Within a day of opening fire, the French batteries had knocked down 100 feet of the old medieval walls surrounding the city. Even with the breach in their walls, the Pisans put up such a determined resistance that Beaumont despaired of ever taking Pisa. On 11 July 1500, the French broke camp and retreated north. The diversion to Pisa and the failure there emboldened opponents of the French in Italy. Pursuing the claim to the Kingdom of Naples had become politically impossible until some of the opponents were neutralized. One opponent in particular was Spain. It was at this point, in 1500, that Louis XII pursued the claim of his immediate predecessor to the Kingdom of Naples with Ferdinand II, the King of Aragon and with Queen Isabel of Castile, ruler of Spain.


title: Louis XII

text: On 11 November 1500, Ferdinand II and Louis XII signed the Treaty of Granada, which brought Spain into Italian politics in a big way for the first time. Louis XII was severely criticized by contemporary historians including Niccolò Machiavelli; Machiavelli's criticism of Louis XII is contained in his work "The Prince".


title: Louis XII

text: Louis's failure to hold on to Naples prompted a commentary by Niccolò Machiavelli in his famous opus "The Prince":


title: Louis XII

text: To assert his claim to his half of the Kingdom of Naples, Louis XII sent an army under the command of Bernard Stuart of Aubigny composed of 1,000 lances, 10,000 infantrymen including 5,000 Swiss troops to Naples in early June 1501. In May 1501, Louis had obtained free passage for his troops to march through Bologne on the way to Naples. As the army approached Rome, Spanish and French ambassadors notified Pope Alexander VI of the thus far secret Treaty of Grenada, signed 11 November 1500, which divided the Kingdom of Naples between France and Spain. The Pope was pleased and enthusiastically issued a bull naming the two kings – Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Spain – as the Pope's vassals in Naples. Indeed, the public announcement of the treaty in the Vatican was the first news that King Frederick of Naples had received about his fate and his betrayal by his own cousin, Ferdinand.


title: Louis XII

text: Being a stern disciplinarian, Lord Stuart held the troops of his army to strict decorum during most of the march to Naples. However, discipline fell apart when the army passed through Capua. The French army plundered and raped Capua mercilessly. However, when news of the rape of Capua spread throughout southern Italy, resistance to the French vanished. Frederick fled and the French Army entered Naples unopposed. Louis XII claimed the throne of Naples and pursuant to the sharing agreement with Ferdinand II shared half the income of Naples with Spain. However, as Machiavelli had predicted, the agreement could not last and in early 1502 relations between France and Spain had gone sour. Negotiations were started between France and Spain over their disagreements about Naples. However, in April 1502, without waiting for the conclusion of these negotiations, Louis sent an army under the command of Louis d' Armagnac, Duke of Nemours against the Spanish in Apulia.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis's greatest success came in the War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516), his final war, fought against the Venetians, who had again become his enemy. The French army won the Battle of Agnadello on 14 May 1509. However, things became much more difficult in 1510, when the army of Pope Julius II intervened. Julius II founded the Holy League of the League of Cambrai specifically to thwart the ambitions of France. The French were eventually driven from Milan in 1513 by the Swiss.


title: Louis XII

text: Under Louis XII, there was an unprecedented explosion of propaganda and publicity for the French crown. Louis XII had numerous large ceremonies for the various marriages, funerals, and other events that occurred under his reign. These occasions provided Louis with opportunities to project royal power and elevate Louis, which was largely done through iconography. Furthermore, while these royal images flooded the kingdom, popular writers – encouraged by Louis's lack of censorship – disseminated praise of their king.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis adopted the porcupine as his personal badge and as a royal beast. As a result, the popularity of the now royal creature exploded, resulting in the placement of porcupines in illuminated manuscripts, on edifices, and on cannons. As it was common belief at the time that the porcupine could shoot its quills, the porcupine symbolized the offensive and defensive capabilities of the king. During his years of conquest, Louis portrayed his kingdom to the public as a porcupine – a supposedly invincible creature feared by all. However, by the second half of his reign, Louis began to relegate the aggressive porcupine into a simple heraldic symbol for identification. Seeking to paint himself as a pious and chivalrous king to the public, Louis adopted titles such as "Father of the People" and compared himself to figures like St. Louis to highlight his commitment to justice and reform rather than simply military dominance.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis's initial of L was often decorated with an open royal crown and laced with fleurs-de-lys. In addition, Louis's personal colors were red and yellow (or gold). Thus, guard regiment uniforms, manuscript color schemes, flags, often adorned Louis's royal colors and his initial.


title: Louis XII

text: Moreover, Louis popularized the state portrait as a propaganda tool. He employed numerous artists to capture him and produce individualized, miniature portraits that can be found in manuscripts today. Furthermore, Louis's propaganda arsenal was greatly expanded with the addition of portrait coins – first minted in France in 1514.


title: Louis XII

text: Under Louis's reign, the province of Brittany finally became a de facto permanent province of France – although this was not legally completed until 1547. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes.


title: Louis XII

text: In spite of his military and diplomatic failures, Louis proved to be a popular king. Historians often attribute Louis's popularity to his tax reduction policies. While Francis I eventually raised taxes, Louis's redaction of law codes and the creation of new parlements were longer-lasting. He duly earned the title of "Father of the People" (""Le Père du Peuple"") conferred upon him by the Estates in 1506. This was the first and only time that a French king was bestowed the specific honorific of "Father of the People".


title: Louis XII

text: In 1476 he was forced by King Louis XI (his second cousin) to marry his daughter Joan of France. Charles VIII (son of Louis XI) succeeded to the throne of France in 1483, but died childless in 1498, when the throne passed to Louis XII. Charles had been married to Anne, Duchess of Brittany, in order to unite the quasi-sovereign Duchy of Brittany with the Kingdom of France. To sustain this union, Louis XII had his marriage to Joan annulled (December 1498) after he became king so that he could marry Charles VIII's widow, Anne of Brittany.


title: Louis XII

text: The annulment, described as "one of the seamiest lawsuits of the age", was not simple. Louis did not, as one might have expected, argue the marriage to be void due to consanguinity (the general allowance for the dissolution of a marriage at that time). Though he could produce witnesses to claim that the two were closely related due to various linking marriages, there was no documentary proof, merely the opinions of courtiers. Likewise, Louis could not argue that he had been below the legal age of consent (fourteen) to marry: no one was certain when he had been born, with Louis claiming to have been twelve at the time, and others ranging in their estimates between eleven and thirteen. As there was no real proof, he had perforce to bring forward other arguments.


title: Louis XII

text: Accordingly, Louis (much to the dismay of his wife) claimed that Joan was physically malformed (providing a rich variety of detail precisely how) and that he had therefore been unable to consummate the marriage. Joan, unsurprisingly, fought this uncertain charge fiercely, producing witnesses to Louis's boast of having "mounted my wife three or four times during the night". Louis also claimed that his sexual performance had been inhibited by witchcraft. Joan responded by asking how he was able to know what it was like to try to make love to her. Had the Papacy been a neutral party, Joan would likely have won, for Louis's case was exceedingly weak. Pope Alexander VI, however, had political reasons to grant the annulment, and ruled against Joan accordingly. He granted the annulment on the grounds that Louis did not freely marry, but was forced to marry by Joan's father Louis XI. Outraged, Joan reluctantly submitted, saying that she would pray for her former husband. She became a nun; she was canonized in 1950.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis married the reluctant queen dowager, Anne, in 1499. Anne, who had borne as many as seven stillborn or short-lived children during her previous marriage to King Charles, now bore a further four stillborn sons to the new king, but also two surviving daughters. The elder daughter, Claude (1499–1524), was betrothed by her mother's arrangement to the future Emperor Charles V in 1501. But after Anne failed to produce a living son, Louis dissolved the betrothal and betrothed Claude to his heir presumptive, Francis of Angoulême, thereby insuring that Brittany would remain united with France. Anne opposed this marriage, which took place only after her death in 1514. Claude succeeded her mother in Brittany and became queen consort to Francis. The younger daughter, Renée (1510–1575), married Duke Ercole II of Ferrara.


title: Louis XII

text: After Anne's death, Louis married Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII of England, in Abbeville, France, on 9 October 1514. This represented a final attempt to produce an heir to his throne, for despite two previous marriages the king had no living sons. Louis died on 1 January 1515, less than three months after he married Mary, reputedly worn out by his exertions in the bedchamber, but more likely from the effects of gout. Their union produced no children, and the throne passed to Francis I of France, who was Louis's first cousin once removed, and also his son-in-law.


title: Louis XII

text: Louis XII had an illegitimate son, Michel Bucy, Archbishop of Bourges, from 1505, who died in 1511 and was buried in Bourges.


title: Louis XII

text: On 24 December 1514, Louis was reportedly suffering from a severe case of gout. In the early hours of 1 January 1515, he received the final sacraments and died later that evening. On 11 January Louis's body was taken to the Notre-Dame for a funeral mass. The next day, during the funeral procession, the cart carrying the coffin broke down and there was a dispute over which party would receive the gold cloth that covered the coffin. Louis was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. He is commemorated by the Tomb of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany.


title: Louis XII

text: The succession to the throne of France followed Salic Law, which did not allow women to inherit the throne. As a result, Louis XII was succeeded by Francis I. Born to Louise of Savoy, on 12 September 1494, Francis I was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême. Francis would also marry Louis XII's eldest daughter Claude of France.


title: Louis XII

text: The succession to the ducal crown of Brittany followed semi-Salic tradition, allowing women to inherit the crown in their own right ("suo jure"). Anne of Brittany predeceased Louis XII. Thus, Anne's eldest daughter, Claude of France, inherited the Duchy of Brittany directly in her own right ("suo jure") before Louis's death. When Claude married Francis I, Francis also became the administrator of Brittany in right of his wife. This assured that Brittany would remain part of the Kingdom of France and the unity of the Kingdom would be upheld.


title: Donald Gibb

text: Donald Richard Gibb (born August 4, 1954) is an American actor, best known for his roles as the hulking, dimwitted fraternity brother Ogre in several installments of the "Revenge of the Nerds" film series, as Kumite fighter Ray Jackson in "Bloodsport", and as Leslie "Dr. Death" Krunchner on the HBO sitcom "1st & Ten".


title: Donald Gibb

text: Raised in California, Gibb attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. Upon graduation he went to the University of New Mexico on a basketball scholarship, where he joined Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He then transferred to University of San Diego to play football. Don Gibb played basketball for the University of San Diego team on scholarship. Gibb played briefly for the San Diego Chargers before suffering an injury in an automobile accident, which led him to turn to acting, beginning with small, uncredited roles in "Stripes" and "Conan the Barbarian". He received recognition in a small role in "Lost in America", playing an ex-convict who picks up a hitchhiking main character, with a review stating that his casting was one of several in the film showing that director Albert Brooks had "a rare knack for filling supporting roles with exactly the right person, however unlikely that person would seem to be for that particular role".


title: Donald Gibb

text: Gibb is best known for his Ogre character portrayed first in "Revenge of the Nerds" and later in "" and "". Chugging beer from a trophy, throwing nerds off fraternity buildings and competing in belching contests, Gibb gleefully played up his former days as a college football jock. Gibb "experienced a life makeover" between the first and second films in the series, objecting to a proposed scene in the second film in which the script called for the character "to threaten somebody with a piece of wood", with Gibbs saying "I personally didn't want to be associated with that kind of action, and I didn't think Ogre would do it, either".


title: Donald Gibb

text: Gibb's other famous recurring role was in a string of martial arts pictures. As an American entrant named Ray Jackson, he starred alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme in "Bloodsport", and alone in the 1996 sequel "". Gibb has appeared in more than 25 movies including "Jocks" and "Amazon Women on the Moon". Subsequently, he also played a small role in the PC game "Zork: Grand Inquisitor", as the man in the third portal with Lucy; and can be seen in a brief role in the film "Hancock", starring Will Smith. Gibb gained notoriety on HBO's "1st & Ten", as Leslie "Dr. Death" Krunchner, a linebacker. Gibb played the role from 1984 until 1991, making him one of the few members of the fictional California Bulls to last the entire seven-year run. After, he played the illiterate biker Scab on the 1992 Fox sitcom "Stand By Your Man", which co-starred Melissa Gilbert and Rosie O'Donnell, and played small roles in "Quantum Leap", "MacGyver", "Magnum P.I.", "Night Court", "Cheers", "Renegade", "The X-Files", "The A-Team", "Step by Step" and "Early Edition".


title: Donald Gibb

text: Gibb is the spokesman and co-owner for Chicago bar Trader Todd's, through which Gibb is marketing "Ogre beer", named after his iconic character in "Revenge of the Nerds". In 2018, Gibb joined "Revenge of the Nerds" castmates Robert Carradine and Andrew Cassese in an interview at the Niagara Falls Comic Con.


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: Estella Marie Thompson (born August 9, 1969), also known as Divine Brown, is an American former sex worker who gained attention from law enforcement and the media in 1995 when actor Hugh Grant was caught receiving oral sex from her in his car on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. Thompson has remained in the public eye since then through work in pornography, television appearances, and newspaper interviews.


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: Thompson grew up in poverty in the eastern part of Oakland, California. She was one of six children of a single mother. Having herself become a mother of two daughters, she turned to sex work when she could not pay a $133 electricity bill. Going to Union Square in San Francisco one night, she earned $1,000 in five hours.


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: On June 27, 1995, Thompson and British actor Hugh Grant were arrested together in Los Angeles. According to Thompson, the attention of a policeman was alerted by Grant repeatedly pressing the brake pedal of his BMW with his foot, causing the brake lights to flash many times.


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: Charged with lewd conduct, she pleaded no contest on September 6, 1995. In addition to being ordered to attend an AIDS class and perform five days of community service, she was fined $1,150 for parole violations and sentenced to 180 days in jail. Hugh Grant pleaded no contest and was fined $1,180, placed on two years' summary probation, and was ordered to complete an AIDS education program.


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: In September 1996, Thompson was arrested at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in Paradise after flirting and making suggestive comments to undercover police officers. A police officer involved in the operation was quoted as saying, "She didn't actually solicit, but the police officers knew what she was up to." The arrest resulted in a $950 fine for loitering for the purpose of prostitution and resisting arrest. Thompson denied she was still involved in sex work.


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: Thompson only learned who her client had been when reporters besieged her house the day after her arrest. In the publicity that ensued in the days after her encounter with Grant, Thompson appeared on television shows, including "The Howard Stern Show" and Danny Bonaduce's short-lived "Danny!". She appeared in a television commercial promoting a Los Angeles radio station, a commercial for a Brazilian lingerie company, in semi-nude pictures for soft-porn magazines like "Penthouse", and as a presenter on UK pornography channel Television X. In 1996, she played herself in an X-rated docu-drama based on the incident, "Sunset and Divine: The British Experience". In September 1996, she made an appearance at the professional wrestling show Fight the Power.


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: Thompson continued to stay in the public eye, appearing in Joey Buttafuoco's public-access television show in 1998, on "Judge Judy" in 1996, and on the Danish documentary series "Negermagasinet" in 2005. She was the subject of the biopic "Million Dollar Hooker" in 2006 and appeared on "Hollywood Lives", an ITV television series, in 2007.


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: Thompson has been reported to have earned a total of $1.6 million from publicity related to her arrest with Grant. As a result, she and her manager, partner, and father of her children, Alvin C. Brown, bought a four-bedroom home in Beverly Hills. Thompson has said the money she earned from interviews and endorsements after the 1995 interrupted dalliance has allowed her to put her daughters through private school. "Everything worked out for the better," she said in 2007: "It helped me turn it into something positive … I was blessed that it could get me out of that lifestyle."


title: Estella Marie Thompson

text: Grant, asked in a 2003 London "Times" interview about how he viewed his encounter with Thompson, said, "I think, ultimately, the pros and cons about evened out, actually. I remember saying to my agent the night of the event – I was very drunk – 'Is this bad for my career?' He was a very Hollywood guy, for whom everything is fantastic, and even he ... had to say: 'Oh, it's not great.' But on the other hand, there were odd things coming out of it that were quite positive, in a way. So I have to say, in all honesty, I think it was kind of neutral."