A family in Los Angeles came forward and clarified that the license plate which read LOLOCT7 was not to mock the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel but was an “endearing nod to their grandfather”. The family’s statement came after the license plate created a huge uproar and DMV horridly apologized for it.
A Tesla Cybertruck in California was spotted with the number plate which was interpreted as hateful towards Israelis as the letters and numbers read as ‘LOL’ October 17.
“This is 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,” DMV said in a statement.
“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.”
“StopAntisemitism is appalled by the sickening display on a Cyber Truck plate in California, celebrating terrorism against the Jewish people,” the group posted.
It called the plates “a vile mockery of the 1,200 innocent lives lost and the countless others scarred” and shared a formal letter for followers to send to the California DMV demanding action.
The family came out giving an explanation after DMV’s statement and said they were not even given a chance to explain the significance of the number plate as it was not ‘LOL OCT 7’ but ‘LOLO CT 7’.
“LOLO” means grandfather in Tagalog, the “CT” stands for Cyber Truck and “7” references the number of grandchildren,” a family member who requested anonymity told NBC 4.
“We’re a large Filipino family and this had nothing to do with the conflict in the Middle East,” the person said addingthat they would change the license plate anyway after it created such an uproar and after DMV apologized for it.