Elon Musk mocks Twitter employee with disability In a new low for the billionaire, Musk exaggerated a former employee’s disability and said she “didn’t do any real work.”
Billionaire Elon Musk publicly mocked a former Twitter employee with a disability this week, saying she exaggerated her disability and that she “didn’t do any real work.”
The exchange marks a new low for Musk, who has laid off thousands of people since taking over Twitter in a $44 billion deal that left the company heavily in debt. Haraldur Thorleifsson, a senior Twitter director, just wanted to know if he had been fired.
According to Thorleifson, he contacted Twitter’s human resources department to find out if he still had a job after losing access to work accounts, and when that didn’t work, he contacted Elon Musk directly at Twitter.
“Dear @elonmusk 9 days ago my work computer was hacked along with about 200 other Twitter employees,” Thorleifson said on Twitter and although the head of HR has not been able to confirm whether I am an employee or not. You haven’t replied to my email and maybe if enough people retweet you will reply to me here?
Thorleifsson is the founder of Uno Agency and sold it to Twitter in 2021 and took a job at the social media giant. According to Thorleifsson, who uses a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy, which according to his website has begun to affect his upper body and arms, he survived several rounds of layoffs after Musk took over.
In late February, Twitter laid off hundreds more employees, some of whom were high-ranking employees who had founded the companies that Twitter had acquired. “What work you are doing?” Elon Musk answered a question about Thorleifsson’s employment status.
Thorleifsson explained that it would break their confidentiality agreement to explain. Musk replied that he had permission and Thorleifsson explained his work and many achievements in detail. “Photos or it didn’t happen,” Elon Musk replied. He then answered himself with a YouTube clip of a scene from the shootout from Office Space.
You have every right to remove me. That’s perfectly fair and fine, Thorleifsson said in response. But usually people are told when this happens. Maybe with a letter or something. Which didn’t happen for 9 days despite many emails to you and others.
Hours later, Elon Musk responded by criticizing a source for how he handled the incident, mocking Thorleifsson for being incompetent. The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) didn’t do any real work, claimed he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet weathered a storm together.
Thorleifsson’s muscular dystrophy diagnosis and his use of mobility devices are well-documented facts of his life and a driving force behind his charitable activities in his home country of Iceland, where he started a fund to build wheelchair ramps. After hanging out with Musk in the morning, Thorleifson took to Twitter detailing his inability.
I haven’t been able to do physical work (which in this case means typing or using a mouse) for long periods of time without my hands starting to cramp.” However I can write for an hour or two at a time. Twitter 1.0 This was not a problem because I was a senior director and my job was mostly to help the teams grow, give them strategic and tactical guidance.
As I told HR (I’m assuming you are sharing confidential health information) I can no longer work as a designer for the reasons stated above. I’m typing this on my phone btw. [For me] it’s easier because I only need to use one finger, he said. I hope this helps! Tell me, are you going to pay me? I think you can afford it?