Elon Musk mercilessly trolled for embarrassing conversation with Twitter employee
SAN FRANSISCO, CALIFORNIA: Elon Musk faced people’s wrath online after he locked horns with a former Twitter employee who wanted to find out if he'd been laid off by the social media company. Haraldur Thorleifsson, the 2019 Icelandic Businessman of the year, posted his grievance on the micro-blogging platform, saying he lost his work computer access nine days prior and did not know if he was still employed.
"However your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You've not answered my emails," wrote Thorleifsson. “Maybe if enough people retweet you'll answer me here?” Thorleifsson, a creative designer and father of two, noted on his LinkedIn profile that he served as a director at Twitter based in Reykjavik, Iceland. He also owns a creative agency, Ueno, which was acquired by Twitter in 2021. Thorleifsson's initial tweet triggered a response from the Twitter CEO, who asked him about his job profile saying, "What work have you been doing?"
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'Would you say that you're a people person?'
The former employee replied to Musk’s question, saying, "If you have your lawyers share in writing that I can do that then I'd be happy to discuss that openly!” To this, the world’s second richest person replied, “It’s approved, you go ahead”. Thorleifsson then disclosed some of his work responsibilities including hiring designers, helping the company to appeal to younger users, and leading projects to "level up design across the company."
"Level up from what design to what? Pics or it didn't happen," Musk wrote while reflecting on Thorleifsson’s claims. "We haven't hired design roles for four months. What changes did you make to help with the youths?" Musk also shared from the 1999 comedy film "Office Space," asking Thorleifsson: "Would you say that you're a people person?" Thorleifsson responded that he was locked out of his computer and had no access to any images or papers that may serve as proof.
'Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that'
When Thorleifsson answered one of Musk's questions by writing "Figma" and "all active design projects," the billionaire responded with two laughing emojis. Musk then avoided delivering a direct reply to Thorleifsson but took a jibe at him while replying to a person who shared a screenshot of their social media spat. “The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm.” Musk wrote. “Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.”
Thorleifsson soon noticed Musk’s jibe and replied by revealing this has muscular dystrophy, which has affected his legs. “Hi, again @elonmusk. I hope you are well. I’m fine too. I’m thankful for your interest in my health. But since you mentioned it, I wanted to give you more info. I have muscular dystrophy. It has many effects on my body.” He wrote. Musk soon realized his mistake and apologized to Thorleifsson for the misunderstanding. “I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation,” Musk tweeted late Tuesday. “It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful.”
'For Musk the cruelty is the point'
While Musk has apologized for his furious statements, social media users are trolling him for being disrespectful and rude to a disabled person who had worked for him. “Making fun of a disabled employee with a 100 million dollar contract publicly on Twitter and then bragging about firing. Hmmm… what could go wrong. Only to be a fly on the wall of that phone call between Elon and his legal team,” said one user.
“He said I have 2 kids that I see every day. Recommend that LOL doubt Elon sees each of his kids once a month.” Said the second user while the third said. “For Musk the cruelty is the point”. “And this guy wants to colonize another planet. Can you imagine living in a Mars colony run by this sociopath, where there is no government to keep him in check?” another person wrote.