OK. Other people (probably not you) in this thread were talking about this strategy like it was basically risk-free. Compared to a naked short it's, um, obviously a better idea, but I still think others were over-selling it by not mentioning all of the downside risk.

Oh yeah, I don't think I would suggest actually implementing this because it's just a lot of costs and fees to emulate what otherwise would be an index without the stock

Well, the people advocating it are bearish on Tesla and trying to win a bet on that, while "hedging" it with their ETF portfolio. I mean, on the fundamentals I'm bearish on Tesla, too, but there's a not-inconsiderable chance that any day now Musk announces an eleventy-billion dollar contract with the US government, so no way I'm taking that bet. Anyway, I'm not a gambler, so all my investments are super boring.