Elon Musk shares uncommon regrets for brutally mocking a disabled former Twitter worker: ‘I want to apologize’

A day after publicly attacking a disabled former Twitter worker, Musk reversed course and issued a uncommon apology.

The odd spectacle began when that worker, Haraldur “Halli” Thorleifsson, a distinguished designer, grew annoyed after being locked out of his work laptop for 9 days with no phrase from Twitter’s human sources division. Fearing he had been laid off as a part of latest job cuts, he turned to Twitter to immediately ask its proprietor—Musk—to make clear his work standing.

Musk occurred to see the tweet and quizzed Thorleifsson for some primary info. Ultimately, Thorleifsson stated HR contacted him and at last shared that he had certainly been laid off.

However shortly after, in a public dialog with one other individual, Musk adopted a merciless tone, criticizing Thorleifsson’s work and ridiculing his effort on the job. In doing so, Musk referenced Thorleifsson’s incapacity—he has muscular dystrophy and makes use of a wheelchair—in a attainable violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act that prohibits employers from disclosing any worker’s disabilities.

“The fact 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,” Musk wrote. “Can’t say I’ve a whole lot of respect for that.”

However late Tuesday, after intense public backlash and the potential for a lawsuit over the potential ADA violation, Musk backtracked.

“I want to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his state of affairs. It was based mostly on issues I used to be instructed that had been unfaithful or, in some instances, true, however not significant,” Musk wrote.

Musk added that he had spoken by video name with Thorleifsson, who lives in Iceland, and stated that he “is contemplating remaining at Twitter.” Thorleifsson didn’t instantly touch upon Twitter about Musk’s apology or whether or not he’s enthusiastic about returning to work for him.

Thorleifsson bought his startup, Uneno, to Twitter in 2021 and, as a part of the deal, joined Twitter. He’s open about his incapacity and initially responded to Musk by detailing the impression of it on him and the way he had managed to work at Twitter nonetheless.

In a thinly veiled criticism of Musk, Thorleifsson additionally wrote: “You had each proper to put me off. However it will have been good to let me know!”

Then Thorleifsson received all the way down to enterprise and addressed Musk concerning the monetary issues of being laid off. Would Musk, among the many world’s richest individuals, honor Thorleifsson’s contract or “attempt to keep away from paying”—one other dig at Musk, who has allegedly didn’t pay lease for workplaces and stiffed laid off staff of promised compensation.

“Let me know if you’ll pay what you owe me?” he said. “I believe you may afford it?