‘It’s better to talk than tweet’: Elon Musk condemns his OWN platform during public apology to sacked Twitter worker with muscular dystrophy who he attacked for ‘doing no work’ calling it a ‘misunderstanding’
- Designer Halli Thorleifsson had been working at Twitter for over two years
- Musk was forced to apologise after he accused him of using disability as ‘excuse’
Elon Musk has condemned his own public platform and said ‘it’s better to talk then tweet’ as he publicly apologized to a sacked Twitter employee who suffers from muscular dystrophy after he accused him using his disability as an ‘excuse’ to do ‘no actual work’.
Icelandic entrepreneur Halli Thorleifsson, 45, had sent a direct tweet to the billionaire to ask whether he was still employed at Twitter after he was locked out of his work’s computer system, telling Musk that the HR department had not responded to him for nine days.
Eventually, Thorleifsson, who uses a wheelchair, got his answer after a surreal Twitter exchange with Musk, who proceeded to quiz him about his work, question his disability and need for accommodations.
Musk tweeted: ‘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. Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.’
While the exchange was going on, Thorleifsson said he received an email that he was no longer employed. Musk was later forced to apologize to the Icelander after he was slammed by other Twitter users, with some accusing the CEO of being a ‘terrible person’ who discriminates against disabled people.
Icelandic entrepreneur Halli Thorleifsson, 45, (pictured) had sent a direct tweet to the billionaire to ask whether he was still employed at Twitter after he was locked out of his work’s computer system, telling Musk that the HR department had not responded to him for nine days
Musk publicly apologized to Thorleifsson after he accused him using his disability as an ‘excuse’ to do ‘no actual work’
After the conversation went viral on the platform, with Musk’s conduct receiving widespread condemnation, the Twitter CEO was forced to apologize to the Icelander
Musk also bizarrely condemned Twitter – despite being the social media giant’s CEO – and said it was ‘better to talk to people than communicate via tweet’ after he spoke with Thorleifsson on a video call to discuss his situation
Musk was forced to apologise to Thorleifsson after he accused him of using disability as ‘excuse’
‘I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful,’ Musk tweeted. ‘He is considering remaining at Twitter.’
Musk also bizarrely condemned Twitter as a platform – despite being the social media giant’s CEO – and said it was ‘better to talk to people than communicate via tweet’ after he spoke with Thorleifsson on a video call to discuss his situation.
The Twitter CEO has been slammed on social media for his tweets to Thorleifsson, with some accusing Musk of discriminating against disabled people and being a ‘terrible person’.
David Goldfard, the founder and Studio Creative Director of The Outsiders, tweeted: ‘So now you are mocking someone with a disability? Weird flex.’
‘What happened to you Elon? You need a break from the spotlight dude. You’re actually starting to get so far disconnected from reality that it’s sad to see your legacy crumble. I hope you find some peace soon,’ one Twitter user wrote.
Another wrote: ‘Congratulations on helping him prove to a court you discriminate against disabled people.’
‘You are a terrible person and the sooner you are gone from managing this site the better it will be for everyone,’ one person wrote in a scathing tweet.
‘While an apology is good, the behavior shown in how you treat him publicly needs to be reflected on. You are the CEO of a company and blasted an employee by saying ‘if he can tweet, he can work right?’ You jump to the conclusion that the other person must be wrong. Do better,’ another person tweeted.
The bizarre Twitter exchange occurred after Thorleifsson logged in to his computer last Sunday to do some work – only to find himself locked out, along with 200 others.
He might have figured, as others before him have in the chaotic months of layoffs and firings since Musk took over the company, that he was out of a job.
The Twitter CEO has been slammed on social media for his tweets to Thorleifsson, with some accusing Musk of discriminating against disabled people and being a ‘terrible person’.
Instead, after nine days of no answer from Twitter as to whether or not he was still employed, Thorleifsson decided to tweet at Musk to see if he could catch the billionaire’s attention and get an answer to his Schrödinger’s job situation.
READ MORE: Elon Musk has bodyguards at Twitter HQ who accompany him to the bathroom, ex-staffer claims
Eventually Musk responded and questioned whether Thorleifsson, who had sold his company in 2021 to join Twitter, had worked for the social media platform.
Musk tweeted: ‘But was he fired? No, you can’t be fired if you weren’t working in the first place!’
In yet another tweet, Musk wrote: ‘He has a prominent, active Twitter account and is wealthy. The reason he confronted me in public was to get a big payout. From what I’ve been told, he’s done almost no work for the past four months, middle-management or otherwise.
‘Despite his claims on Twitter that he did work, it turns out he told HR that he couldn’t work because he couldn’t type, but was, over the same period, typing up a storm on Twitter.
‘Yet there are many people on Twitter defending him. This hurts my faith in humanity.’
Thorleifsson, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, explained in a Twitter thread that prior to Musk’s takeover and the mass layoffs he had been a senior director and his job at that time did not require much typing – which he said he had difficulty with over long periods.
‘I’m not able to do manual work (which in this case means typing or using a mouse) for extended periods of time without my hands starting to cramp,’ he said.
‘I can however write for an hour or two at a time. This wasn’t a problem in Twitter 1.0 since I was a senior director and my job was mostly to help teams move forward, give them strategic and tactical guidance.
‘But as I told HR (I’m assuming that’s the confidential health information you (Musk) are sharing) I can’t work as a hands on designer for the reasons outlined above.’
He added: ‘I’m typing this on my phone by the way. It’s easier because I only need to use one finger.’
Elon Musk responds to the Twitter designer who he said ‘wasn’t working in the first place’
After the conversation went viral on the platform, with Musk’s conduct receiving widespread condemnation, Musk said he decided to contact Thorleifsson directly via videocall ‘to figure out what’s real vs what I was told’ and it was ‘a long story’.
‘Better to talk to people than communicate via tweet,’ Musk added.
In a follow-up tweet, the billionaire apologised to Thorleifsson.
Earlier in the week Mr Thorleifsson – who was voted Iceland’s person of the year in 2022 by four media outlets – told the BBC he could not get an answer from Twitter’s human resources department on whether or not he had been sacked.
‘My theory is they made a mistake and are now looking for anything they can find to make this a ‘for cause’ firing to avoid having to fulfil their contractual obligations,’ he said.
Thorleifsson, who lives in Iceland, has about 151,000 Twitter followers (Musk has over 130 million). He joined Twitter in 2021, when the company, under the prior management, acquired his startup Ueno.
He was lauded in Icelandic media for choosing to receive the purchase price in wages rather than a lump sum payout. That’s because this way, he would pay higher taxes to Iceland in support of its social services and safety net.
Thorleifsson’s next move: ‘I’m opening a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon,’ he tweeted. ‘It’s named after my mom.’
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