It's because Musk fired his PR department. Tesla have no ability to damage control stories like this because it's no one's job at the company.

A normal firm would have a heads up warning when requests for comment hit their media inboxes and internally could start collecting data and developing a response: thanks to Elon they don't. The story hits first and goes completely unchallenged until investigators get involved.

Regardless of what you think of Tesla or Musk, they repeatedly kick own goals on basic product brand management.