Musk booed at Chappelle show; faces lawsuits from ex-employees
FILE – A Twitter logo hangs outside the company’s San Francisco offices on Nov. 1, 2022. A top European Union official warned Elon Musk on Wednesday Nov. 30, 2022 that Twitter needs to beef up measures to protect users from hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content to avoid violating new rules that threaten tech giants with big fines or even a ban in the 27-nation bloc. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
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(NewsNation) — Elon Musk continues to find himself in the middle of drama as he tries to change the way Twitter is run.
Dave Chapelle brought Musk onstage during a San Francisco show where the crowd greeted him with boos. Musk took to Twitter to claim there were more cheers than boos and at least one Twitter account that posted video of the appearance seems to have been deleted.
For the past few months, Musk’s decisions have been under scrutiny since he acquired the social media platform, for mass layoffs (and rehiring), reinstating banned accounts and being investigated for turning offices into bedrooms at Twitter headquarters.
While his supporters have defended him, many users and employees have not been a fan of Musk’s decisions.
After previous emails leaked to the press — including a mass layoff email and a late night email ordering Twitter workers to return to the office or resign — Musk sent a memo threatening to sue anyone who leaked to the press.
The memo was leaked to the press over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Musk is facing lawsuits from former employees who allege Twitter’s mass layoffs were discriminatory and that Musk failed to give workers proper notice.
All of this comes as Twitter is set to re-launch subscription service Twitter Blue, allowing any user to receive a blue checkmark for a monthly fee.
Twitter Blue’s initial launch quickly cascaded into chaos as users paid the $8 fee to create accounts claiming to be major brands or public figures, sometimes forcing brands to issue apologies for tweets sent by the fake accounts.
The new Twitter Blue will show checkmarks in different colors to distinguish between governments, companies and individuals as well as including a review process to prevent impersonation.
Musk also announced Apple users would pay more for the service, part of his ongoing spat with Apple which has included grievances over the app store’s commission charge and rules as well as Musk’s displeasure when Apple reduced advertising on Twitter.
Musk also announced his intention to increase Twitter’s character count to 4,000.
The announcement came in the form of a three-letter tweet.
