Elon Musk’s Twitter reign has infamously been riddled with multiple rounds of layoffs, technical glitches, poor communications and ineffective policy changes. The most recent round of cuts at the company have affected hundreds of employees, including designer Haraldur Thorleifsson—but he didn’t know for sure if he had been sacked because it took the company nine days to tell him.
At Musk-led “Twitter 2.0,” staffers had been fired via tweets or simply lost access to their accounts and devices without notice in the past. So, Thorleifsson went on Twitter to ask the platform’s “chief twit” for answers, and actually got a direct answer from the CEO —only to have Musk dismiss his role at the company.
But on Tuesday, Musk went even further and replied to a tweet commenting on the back and forth between the Twitter CEO and Thorleifsson, attacking him and implying he was being deceptive about a disability.
“The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm,” Musk wrote.
The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.
The spat, which by this time had already added up to over eight exchanges, didn’t end there. Thorleifsson took the opportunity Musk presented to tell his own story about his disability and his time at Twitter, detailing how he developed his career while living with muscular dystrophy, a condition that can reduce the mobility of limbs and, as in Thorleifsson’s case, make patients wheelchair-bound.
Hi again @elonmusk 👋
— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023
I hope you are well.
I’m fine too. I’m thankful for your interest in my health.
But since you mentioned it, I wanted to give you more info.
I have muscular dystrophy. It has many effects on my body.
Let me tell you what they are: https://t.co/2vb16kP6Yv
“My legs were the first to go. When I was 25 years old I started using a wheelchair,” Thorleifsson wrote in a thread. In a follow-up tweet, he shared more detail about how his disability affected his body, and influenced his work, but did not mean that he was doing nothing, as Musk claimed.
But Thorleifsson’s response didn’t end there. He went on to explain how he became “independently wealthy” (by founding a digital landscaping agency that worked with Apple, Google, Uber and others), and eventually selling to Twitter.
“We grew fast and made money. I think that's what you are referring to when you say independently wealthy?” Thorleifsson wrote. He added: “You bought the company and told employees you weren't firing 75% of them. Which you then did.”
Even after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and began making changes to how it was run, Thorleifsson wrote that he checked in with his manager every week asking what work to focus on, and regularly contacted HR to ask for his job description—but got on response.
“I wanted to make sure I was doing what I was supposed to do,” he wrote.
In response to Musk’s accusation that he was “tweeting up a storm” despite his disability, Thorleiffson said that he had told Twitter’s HR that he could not do hands-on designing because his medical condition hampered his ability to do “manual work for extended periods of time” without his hands cramping. But he could still write for an hour or two.
“This wasn't a problem in Twitter 1.0 since I was a senior director and my job was mostly to help teams move forward, give them strategic and tactical guidance,” Thorleiffson wrote.
He ended the thread accusing Musk of sharing confidential health information, and asking if he would pay him what he is owed.
“I think you can afford it?” Thorleiffson wrote.
Twitter, which no longer has a communications team, did not return Fortune’s request for comment. Thorleifsson did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
This is the latest in a series of unceremonious layoffs carried out at Twitter. When Musk took over as the head of the San Francisco-based social media giant, he promptly removed some of the company’s top executives along with about half of Twitter’s other staffers. Several layoffs have followed since.
Musk asked the remaining employees to brace an “extremely hardcore” work culture or take severance, which came late and were below the promised amount. Some former employees are pursuing legal action against Musk and Twitter for reneging on their financial obligations made to employees.
