California DMV Apologizes For Issuing Offensive Cybertruck License Plate, But Is It All A Big Misunderstanding?

California’s DMV has apologized for issuing a license plate some believe is offensive and antisemitic.
‘LOLOCT7’ plate on a Tesla Cybertruck is claimed to glorify the deadly attack on Israel in fall 2023.
Cybertruck owner’s son claims plate has been misinterpreted and means grandfather in Tagalog.

California’s DMV has publicly apologized for issuing a license plate that some people claim celebrates Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel in October 2023. But in a new twist to the story the family who owns the plate says it means something completely different. The question is, does that make it okay?

The plate at the center of the row reads LOLOCT7, which those offended believe mocks the October 7, 2023 attack by prefacing the date with LOL, the shorthand for laugh out loud. Almost 1,200 Israelis were killed and hundreds kidnapped in the atrocity.

After taking criticism from the StopAntisemitism group, which described the plate as “sickening,” the DMV apologized on X and said the tag was “unacceptable and disturbing.”

“The DMV is taking swift action to recall these shocking plates and we will immediately strengthen our internal review process to ensure such an egregious oversight never happens again,” the DMV wrote.

California DMV Apologizes For Issuing Offensive Cybertruck License Plate, But Is It All A Big Misunderstanding?

“We sincerely apologize that these personalized plates were not properly rejected during our review process. The use of hateful language is not only a clear violation of our policies but also a violation of our core values to proudly serve the public and ensure safe and welcoming roadways.”

But a man who wished to remain anonymous, but claims to be the son of the Cybertruck’s owner says the whole thing is a huge misunderstanding. Far from celebrating the Hamas attack, the man says the plate celebrates the driver’s truck and family. He told KABC that LOLO is the word grandfather in Tagalog, a language spoken by people from the Philippines, that CT refers to the Cybertruck and 7 is the number of grandchildren he has.

StopAntisemitism is appalled by the sickening display on a Cyber Truck plate in California, celebrating terrorism against the Jewish people. pic.twitter.com/n6e0d07sWY
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) December 12, 2024

“We have great empathy for anyone who has experienced any hatred,” the son told KABC. “And we would really appreciate, in turn, for anyone that’s seeing this or hearing this to have any empathy toward our family because we had no ill intent for anything.”

The family’s story sounds plausible, but we doubt it’ll be enough to dissuade the DMV from recalling the plate and issuing the Tesla with a new one. What do you think the DMV should do? Is it right to cancel the plate just because some people have got the wrong end of the stick, or was it a mistake to issue it because it was always going to be seen as offensive by some no matter what the original intended meaning was? Leave a comment and let us know – but let’s keep the discussion to the DMV.