Elon Musk Issues Pitiful Apology After Axing Disabled Twitter Employee Who He Claimed Was Using Muscular Dystrophy As An 'Excuse' To Not Work
Elon Musk condemned his own company while publicly apologizing to a fired employee, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, RadarOnline.com has learned.
On Tuesday morning, the 51-year-old Twitter CEO took to the social media platform to criticize Halli Thorleifsson – an entrepreneur in Iceland who reached out to Musk to determine whether he was still employed with the company.
But rather than inform Thorleifsson he had been fired, Musk quizzed the 45-year-old and accused him of using his muscular dystrophy as an “excuse” to not do “actual work.”
“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 tweeted.
“Can't say I have a lot of respect for that,” the multi-billionaire added.
Musk returned to the platform hours later to apologize to Thorleifsson for the “misunderstanding” – at which point the Twitter CEO proclaimed it is “better to talk to people” rather than “tweet.”
“I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation,” Musk tweeted Tuesday night. “It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful.”
“He is considering remaining at Twitter,” Musk continued. “Better to talk to people than communicate via tweet.”
Despite Musk’s “groveling” apology to Thorleifsson, the Tesla founder and SpaceX CEO was called out for his shocking behavior.
“What happened to you Elon? You need a break from the spotlight dude,” one Twitter user wrote following the incident. “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.”
“You are a terrible person and the sooner you are gone from managing this site the better it will be for everyone,” wrote another user.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the exchange between Musk and Thorleifsson came shortly after a Twitter engineer revealed the social media company is falling apart under Musk’s new direction.
"For someone on the inside, it's like a building where all the pieces are on fire,” the engineer, identified only as Sam, said on Monday. "When you look at it from the outside the façade looks fine, but I can see that nothing is working.”
“All the plumbing is broken, all the faucets, everything,” the insider added. "There are so many things broken and there's nobody taking care of it, that you see this inconsistent behavior.”
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As RadarOnline.com reported, Musk officially acquired Twitter in October for a whopping $44 billion.
Since his acquisition of the social media giant five months ago, roughly 50% of the company’s workforce has either resigned or been fired.