Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, has apologized to a fired employee after their social media exchange went viral.
After being shut out of his company’s computer system, Icelandic businessman; Halli Thorleifsson tweeted directly to Musk, telling him he was unable to reach HR.
Musk had tweeted in response, seemingly challenging Mr. Thorleifsson’s assertion, and then added: “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.”
In a subsequent tweet, he added: “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.”
He added: “I’m typing this on my phone btw (by the way). It’s easier because I only need to use one finger.”
Read Also: Elon Musk Sacks 200 Twitter Employees
After the conversation went viral on the platform, with Musk’s conduct receiving widespread condemnation, Musk said he decided to contact Mr 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.