Elon Musk apologizes for mocking ex-Twitter employee, questioning his disability

By Busra Nur Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) – In a series of tweets, Elon Musk apologized for mocking an ex-Twitter employee and questioning his disability.

Haraldur Thorleifsson, former staff at Twitter, said in a tweet on Monday that he was unable to log into his computer and human resource at Twitter failed to provide information on his employment status.

After nine days of no answer from Twitter, he asked Twitter CEO Musk: “Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?”

The Twitter exchange between Musk and Thorleifsson went on and Musk questioned his work, disability and need for accommodation.

Musk said Thorleifsson, who goes by “Halli,” has a “prominent, active Twitter account and is wealthy” and the “reason he confronted me in public was to get a big payout.”

While the exchange was going on, Thorleifsson said he got an e-mail from Twitter and he was no longer an employee.

As the exchange got heated, Thorleifsson had to explain his condition, muscular dystrophy.

On Tuesday, Musk tweeted: “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 is considering remaining at Twitter.”

Thorleifsson did not immediately respond to Musk but later tweeted: “I’m opening a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon. It’s named after my mom.”

Thorleifsson, Icelandic entrepreneur, sold his company, Ueno, to Twitter in 2021 and became a Twitter employee, before Musk acquired the company.

Halli topped Iceland’s list of highest taxpayers, according to Icelandic media.

According to Iceland Review, when his company was sold to Twitter, Halli chose to be paid the sale price as wages rather than large sum of money at once, which meant for him to pay higher taxes.

“Halli, however, gladly paid the higher tax rate, having spoken publicly on many occasions about the benefits he has received from the Icelandic social system,” Iceland Review reported.

He then was chosen Person of the Year in Iceland at the end of 2022.