Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has apologized on Twitter for his earlier tweet that defamed his former employee, Halil Thorleifsson.
“I opened my computer on Sunday morning nine days ago and saw that the screen was grey and locked, indicating that I had been locked out of my Twitter accounts”, he said. “After a few days had passed I started reaching out to people, including Elon and the head of HR to ask about my situation. “The head of HR has since twice emailed me and has not been able to answer whether or not I am an employee at Twitter.”
In a tweet to the firm’s chief executive, Halli Thorleifsson said: “Your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am employed or not”. Musk responded by asking: “What work have you been doing?”
This followed a thread of conversation between the two where Halli had to share things he had done for the company. Musk did not seem impressed, telling the former employee that he must provide evidence. “Pics or it did not happen,” the CEO tweeted. However, it was impossible for Halli to do so since his account had been blocked. Soon, the 45-year-old received an email confirming that he had been sacked from the company. Things did not end here. Musk ended the conversation by calling Halli “the worst”, a tweet he later deleted.
He went on to further criticize Thorleifsson saying: “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.
“Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.”
Musk, in his most recent tweet regarding the issue, admitted that his previous statements about Thorleifsson were false and that he apologized for any harm he caused.
The sources for this piece include an article in BBC.