Elon Musk apologizes after publicly insulting a Twitter employee
Elon Musk
Twitter boss Elon Musk has apologized to a Twitter employee for publicly mocking him about his employment status. It all started when Haraldur Thorleifsson, a Twitter employee, asked Musk about his employment status after losing access to his systems. Thorleifsson detailed in a series of tweets that he approached the company's HR department but has yet to receive a concrete response. Confused and frustrated, he asked Musk to clarify whether he had been fired or was still with the company. Instead of dispelling his doubts, Musk mocked him on the social media platform by asking what job he did.
Musk has apologized to Haraldur Thorleifsson for humiliating him on Twitter. He admitted to having a misunderstanding about his job profile. He revealed that he had a video call with Halli to find out what was real versus what he was told about him. "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," he said. Musk, in a series of tweets, questioned not only his work but also mocked his disability.
Haraldur Thorleifsson, a director at Twitter, could only access his systems for a week. He has yet to receive an official email from the company stating that his services have been terminated, which further confused him. He then approached the human resources team, who did not help him. Thorleifsson tagged Musk in one of his tweets as a last resort and asked him to clarify his employment status. However, Musk got nasty, commenting, "people who weren't working in the first place can't be fired." This was not all; Musk even made his state of health. He claimed that Haraldur had only approached him on Twitter for a big payout.
Twitter users criticized Musk for being nasty to an employee who was trying to get some clarity on his employment status. Criticizing Musk, one Twitter user wrote:
"No, @elonmusk, this is not a good response from a leader. Also, it doesn't seem right to not provide clarity to employees about their termination. Those of us who love you should also be able to speak to you truthfully."