Twitter CEO and supreme overlord Elon Musk apologized to former employee Haraldur Thorleifsson for mocking his incapacity, proving that even tech’s largest villain has a coronary heart, or on the very least the sense to odor an enormous incoming lawsuit.
In a tweet on Tuesday afternoon, Musk acknowledged that he had spoken with Thorleifsson—who goes by “Halli”—in a video name “to determine what’s actual vs what I used to be advised,” admitting that it was higher to truly speak to folks nose to nose than to speak through tweet. The billionaire went on to say that he had misunderstood the state of affairs Thorleifsson, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and makes use of a wheelchair, was in and added that he had provided the previous worker his job again.
“I want to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his state of affairs. It was primarily based on issues I used to be advised that have been unfaithful or, in some circumstances, true, however not significant,” Musk tweeted. “He’s contemplating remaining at Twitter.”
Musk’s apology got here after he had publicly referred to as Thorleifsson “the worst” in a tweet on Monday and stated he “did no precise work,” which he deleted afterwards. Gizmodo was in a position to view a cached model of the tweet on Google.
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The Twitter CEO quickly became the vilest person on his social media network for his interaction with Thorleifsson, a genuinely lovely human being who has won multiple “Individual of the Yr” awards in Iceland, his residence nation. Thorleifsson bought his firm, Ueno, to Twitter in 2021 and selected to be paid in wages in order that he may pay a better tax charge to learn Iceland’s social system.
Musk and Thorleifsson began their backwards and forwards on Monday after the previous worker reached out to the Twitter CEO to ask if he nonetheless had a job. Thorleifsson had misplaced entry to his work laptop in latest weeks and suspected he was one of many 200 Twitter staff who been laid off. He had reached out to Twitter HR and Musk himself to ask if he nonetheless had a job however had not obtained reply. As a final resort, he determined to tweet at his mercurial boss.
“Pricey @elonmusk 👋 9 days in the past the entry to my work laptop was minimize, together with about 200 different Twitter staff,” Thorleifsson stated on Monday. “Nevertheless your head of HR shouldn’t be in a position to verify if I’m an worker or not. You’ve not answered my emails. Possibly if sufficient folks retweet you’ll reply me right here?”
His concept labored and, after receiving tens of 1000’s of likes and retweets, he received his boss on the road. After asking what Thorleifsson was engaged on and demanding footage as proof, Musk laughed on the Ueno founder. All through their change, Thorleifsson revealed that Twitter HR had lastly gotten again to him and advised him he had been laid off.
The Twitter CEO later laughed at Thorleifsson for his incapacity and stated the worker couldn’t have been laid off since he didn’t work within the first place.
“The truth is that this man (who’s independently rich) did no precise work, claimed as his excuse that he had a incapacity that prevented him from typing, but was concurrently tweeting up a storm. Can’t say I’ve a variety of respect for that,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday. “However was he fired? No, you possibly can’t be fired in the event you weren’t working within the first place!
Musk added that Thorleifsson had confronted him on Twitter with a purpose to get an enormous payout and claimed the worker had “executed virtually no work for the previous 4 months, middle-management or in any other case.”
Thorleifsson pushed again in opposition to Musk’s feedback about wanting an enormous payout and stated he resorted to tweeting in public as a result of neither Musk nor anybody else at Twitter had responded to his non-public messages.
He additionally responded to Musk’s merciless tweet and defined the results that muscular dystrophy had on his physique. The Ueno founder acknowledged that he had been in a wheelchair for 20 years since he was 25 years outdated and wanted assist getting out and in of mattress and going to the bathroom. As for his fingers, which Musk confirmed “nice concern” for, Thorleifsson stated that he had advised HR he wasn’t in a position to do handbook work for lengthy intervals of time as a result of he fingers begin to cramp.
“I can nonetheless write for an hour or two at a time. This wasn’t an issue in Twitter 1.0 since I used to be a senior director and my job was largely to assist groups transfer ahead, give them strategic and tactical steering,” Thorleifsson acknowledged. “I’m typing this on my telephone btw. It’s simpler for as a result of I solely want to make use of one finger.”
Like different founders whose firms Twitter’s earlier administration had acquired, Thorleifsson was reportedly on a “do not fire” record as a result of it could be too costly to pay him out.
Thorleifsson maintains that Musk had each proper to put him off, however was sad with how the corporate proceeded. It’s unclear whether or not he’ll settle for Musk’s provide to remain on. Thorleifsson beforehand acknowledged that the following factor he was engaged on discovering out was whether or not Twitter would pay him what he’s owed per his contract.
“You had each proper to put me off. However it could have been good to let me know!” Thorleifsson said on Tuesday.
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