Elon Musk is a well-known billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of companies such as SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company. In 2020, he made headlines after mocking a laid-off Tesla employee on Twitter. The incident prompted Musk to apologize for his behavior.
Here’s what happened:
In May 2020, Tesla announced that it would be laying off around 9% of its workforce due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A few days later, a Tesla fan account on Twitter tweeted a message to Musk, asking him to consider rehiring some of the laid-off employees. Musk responded with a tweet, saying “Frankly, this is not a recession. Excuse me. This is not a recession. This is a massive people are going to die situation.”
Another Twitter user responded to Musk’s tweet, saying that they had been laid off from Tesla and were struggling to find a new job. Musk replied to this tweet, saying “Oh stop, you’ll be fine. You’re a talented software engineer. If you’re looking for a job, HMU [hit me up].”
Many people criticized Musk for his response, saying that it was insensitive and dismissive of the real struggles that laid-off workers were facing. Musk later apologized for his comments, saying that he had been insensitive and was not considering the full scope of the situation.
In his apology, Musk said: “My apologies for my insensitive comment earlier. There are no excuses for making comments that dismiss important and real issues. I have been working on Tesla and SpaceX almost nonstop, trying to make the world a better place. But that doesn’t give me the right to be dismissive of people who are struggling. I’m sorry, and I will strive to do better in the future.”
10 Interesting Facts About Elon Musk
- Elon Musk was born in South Africa in 1971 and later moved to the United States to attend the University of Pennsylvania.
- He is the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and The Boring Company.
- Musk is also the co-founder of OpenAI, which is a research organization dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence in a safe and responsible way.
- Musk’s net worth is estimated to be over $200 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world.
- He has a passion for space exploration and is working towards making human life multi-planetary. His company SpaceX is working on developing reusable rockets and spacecraft to enable interplanetary travel.
- Musk is also passionate about electric cars and renewable energy. His company Tesla produces electric cars and is working on developing sustainable energy solutions.
- In addition to his work in tech and engineering, Musk has also proposed a high-speed transportation system called the Hyperloop, which could transport people and cargo at speeds of up to 700 mph.
- Musk has stated that his ultimate goal is to help humanity become a “multi-planetary species” and to “make life interplanetary”.
- Despite his immense wealth, Musk is known for his frugal lifestyle and has stated that he invests most of his money back into his companies.
- Musk is also an advocate for open-source technology and has released many of his company’s patents for public use in an effort to promote innovation and progress.