The 2019 Icelandic Businessman of the year, celebrated disability advocacy and the first non-Björk Icelander to gain a scrap of international relevance, Halli Thorleifsson, managed to accomplish the impossible this week: Getting Space Karen Elon Musk to admit that he was wrong.
Now, for those of you without a Twitter account and/or who live under a rock, Thorleifsson made headlines earlier this week after he resorted to tweeting at Musk in a last-ditch attempt to decipher whether he had survived another round of layoffs.
Dear @elonmusk
— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 6, 2023
9 days ago the access to my work computer was cut, along with about 200 other Twitter employees.
However your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You've not answered my emails.
Maybe if enough people retweet you'll answer me here?
“Dear @elonmusk 9 days ago the access to my work computer was cut, along with about 200 other Twitter employees,” wrote Thorleifsson, who had worked for the social media giant since selling them his creative agency, Ueno, for an undisclosed sum in 2021.
“However your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You've not answered my emails,” he continued, speculating that “maybe if enough people retweet you'll answer me here?”
The answer to both Thorleifsson’s inquiries? A resounding “yes,” a sentiment Musk conveyed in the absolutely asshole-ish manner fit for an Emerald mine owner’s son-turned-pro Dogecoin peddler.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
He is considering remaining at Twitter.
Alongside the several mishaps that stemmed from what some have dubbed the worst real-time exit interview to ever occur, Musk calling his former employee “the worst” and confusing design software Figma with the long-running internet ball joke setup of Ligma, the Twitter overlord took several personal shots at Thorleifsson, slamming both his work ethic and muscular dystrophy.
“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 wrote, a message historians may describe as the tweet that launched 1,000 ADA lawsuits. “Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.”
Every employment lawyer on the planet watching Elon disclose an employee's disability, claim he's faking it, and state it was part of why he was fired. pic.twitter.com/DYO3qW0rKG
— Zane Schacht - Voice Goblin (@VoicesByZane) March 7, 2023
Despite this proclamation of disrespecting a disabled employee, Musk evidently had a major change of heart, recanting his statement only a few hours later. "I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation,” Musk wrote in a post shared with his more than 130 million followers.
“It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful,” he continued before noting that Thorleifsson “is considering remaining at Twitter."
NEW: Elon Musk had deleted a tweet, calling a recently fired employee (who had muscular dystrophy) "The worst". It had already been viewed half a million times. Here's the screengrab: pic.twitter.com/92123j9xB3
— James Clayton (@JamesClayton5) March 7, 2023
BREAKING: $TSLA stock is down billions of dollars today, as the result of concerns that Elon will have to dump more stock to pay the estimated *$100 million* he owes the disabled employee he fired & ridiculed on Twitter for having muscular dystrophy & asking employment status pic.twitter.com/Mwm3XCeGwD
— LeGate (@williamlegate) March 7, 2023
after sending thousands of weirdos who believe everything Musk says to attack this guy (and also after likely learning just how much he’d have to payout)…
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) March 8, 2023
Elon would like everyone to know he was wrong about his employee that he publicly demeaned and fired pic.twitter.com/4dGLvd2bnY
While it is possible that Musk underwent the heart enlargement surgery depicted in the medical documentary that is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, some have speculated there may have been another motivator at play … more specifically, tens of millions of motivators.
Though the terms of Twitter’s Ueno purchase were unclear, some have speculated that Musk would have to foot a hefty payout if he were to go through with axing Thorleifsson, a fee that would only grow with the inevitably series of disability lawsuits flying towards Twitter HQ.
@loloverruled We talked about this buddy
♬ original sound - Lolo
Elon Musk: Proof that Billionaires love money more than all else.
6 Comments