Elon Musk apologizes to former disabled Twitter employee who was voted Icelandic Person of the Year 2022
““I would like to apologize to Halli for misunderstanding his situation. It is based on things I have been told to be untrue or in some cases to be true but makes no sense. He is considering staying on Twitter.”“
Twitter CEO Elon Musk appears to have had a change of heart over a fired disabled employee, after a public exchange between the two sparked a storm of criticism against the billionaire.
Haraldur “Halli” Thorleifsson, from Reykjavík, Icelandtook to Twitter over the weekend to determine his employment status after finding out he was locked out, complained directly to Musk.
“Nine days ago, access to my work computer, along with about 200 other Twitter employees, was cut off. However, your HR manager was unable to confirm if I am an employee. You did not reply to my email. Maybe if enough people retweet you will reply to me here?”
Responding to Thorleifsson on Tuesday on Twitter, Musk went on to ask him about his role in the company, an exchange that some have described as malicious (the whole back and forth was… summary in this tweet by another former Twitter employee, Alex Cohen).
In public conversation with Musk, the Icelandic native said that Twitter’s human resources department confirmed to him that he is no longer employed. But Musk’s next tweet was even more infuriating:
@elonmusk
Thorleifsson told Musk that his disability has gotten to the point where he can’t do “manual work without (in this case typing or using a mouse) for long periods of time without my hands being didn’t start cramp.”
But late on Tuesday, Musk tweeted an apology, speak he “made a video call with Halli to find out what was true compared to what I was told. It’s a long story. Talking to people is better than communicating via tweet.”
On his Twitter account on Wednesday, Thorleifsson made no direct comment on whether he would consider returning to the company, but merely joked: “Well, that’s enough about me.” He said his next step would be to open a restaurant:
@iamharuldur
Thorleifsson is seen as a hero in Iceland, where he was voted person of the year by some media outlets in 2022. He joined Twitter in 2021 after it acquired his tech company Ueno. for an undisclosed amount and has received rave reviews for choosing to receive a salary payment over a stock option or other more tax-friendly financial asset.
“However, Halli happily pays the higher tax rate, having repeatedly spoken openly about the benefits he receives from the Icelandic social system,” the Icelandic Review wrote in an article. January 23 article, which describes the many philanthropic activities of “Iceland’s benevolent tech giant.”
Article credits Thorleifsson’s Icelandic Ramp Up Programbuilt hundreds of ramps across the country to make it more accessible to wheelchair users like him.
Some speculate that Musk’s change of heart may have come from the realization that the social media company would be willing to pay the rest of Thorleifsson’s contract, given the deal stipulating the sale price would be paid. Pay by salary:
@williamlegate
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk has laid off thousands of workers since taking over last year, leaving only about 2,000 people down from the original 7,500. He told a Morgan Stanley conference on Tuesday that Twitter may soon have positive cash flow.
After this year’s rally in shares of electric carmaker Tesla
TSLA,
of which he is the CEO, Musk’s fortune has grown by $37.2 billion through 2023, making him the second-richest person in the world, with a total net worth of $174 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
