"Claims Arm Disability While Storming Twitter"... Musk Mocking Employee Faces Public Backlash

Elon Musk Apologizes After Argument with Twitter Employees
"Sorry for Misunderstanding the Situation"

Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, has sparked controversy by publicly mocking an employee who asked about their dismissal.

On the 7th (local time), US media outlets including CNN reported that Musk engaged in a heated exchange on social media with a Twitter employee regarding layoffs and later apologized.

According to reports, Haraldur Thorleifsson, who worked as the senior director of design at Twitter, recently discovered that his work computer access had been blocked. He is the founder of a design agency company acquired by Twitter in 2021 and reportedly became a full-time Twitter employee as part of the acquisition deal.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The day his computer access was blocked coincided with additional layoffs at Twitter. Thorleifsson inquired with HR to confirm his employment status but received no clear response.

In response, Thorleifsson sent a direct message to Musk via Twitter. He said, "My work computer access has been blocked for 9 days. The same applies to 200 others. Yet HR says they cannot confirm whether I am still employed. Can you answer this?"

Musk replied, "What work did you do?" Thorleifsson listed his design projects and achievements. He also explained that he helped raise the overall design standards across the company, including hiring design managers.

Musk then mocked, "What design and to what level did you raise it? No proof, no validity." He added, "Thorleifsson has an active Twitter account and is quite wealthy. From what I heard, he barely worked in the last four months and claimed a disability that prevents typing, yet posted many tweets during the same period."

Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter. [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Thorleifsson revealed that he has been wheelchair-bound for 20 years due to the degenerative disease muscular dystrophy and that his arms, as well as legs, have been affected.

He explained, "I cannot do tasks like typing or using a mouse for long periods but can manage one to two hours at a time. This was not an issue at Twitter. I was a senior director, and my role was mainly to help the team move forward and provide strategic and tactical guidance."

As the controversy escalated, Musk eventually apologized to Thorleifsson. He said, "I spoke with Thorleifsson via video call and apologize for the misunderstanding. Some of it was not true, and some was true but insignificant." He added, "Thorleifsson is considering staying at Twitter."

Despite Musk's apology, public reactions remain negative. Netizens commented, "Employees deserve better treatment," "Musk is deceiving his employees," and "The layoff process is strange."

Meanwhile, since acquiring Twitter in October last year, Musk has pushed for massive layoffs several times, cutting half of the 7,500 total employees. To save costs, he also terminated contracts with cleaning service providers and auctioned off the company's iconic bluebird sculpture.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.