‘You’re a jackass!’ Moment Chief Twit Elon Musk loses his cool when he’s asked a pointed question about the tech giant’s software engineering during a Twitter Space then brands his interrogator a ‘moron’
- Musk was speaking on Tuesday in a ‘space’ hosted by hacker George Hotz
- He was pressed for answers from Ian Brown, is ex-Twitter, now at Netflix
- Musk lost his temper and called him a ‘jackass’ after Brown questioned the billionaire’s suggestion Twitter would need to do a ‘full re-write’ of its stack
Elon Musk lost his cool when he was asked a pointed question about Twitter’s software engineering on Tuesday night, before branding his interrogator a ‘moron’.
The billionaire owner of the platform was speaking during a Twitter Space, hosted by renowned hacker George Hotz, when he was pressed for more specific details by Ian Brown, a former Twitter worker for eight years who now works for Netflix.
Answering a question from Hotz, Musk, 51, said Twitter would need a ‘total rewrite of the whole thing’ if the platform wanted to have a ‘really high velocity’.
This prompted a surprised response from Brown, who was given the virtual microphone to question the ‘Chief Twit’ in the space.
Elon Musk (left) lost his cool when he was asked a pointed question about Twitter’s software engineering on Tuesday night by Ian Brown (right, a former Twitter employee of eight years who now works for Netflix) before branding his interrogator a ‘moron’
*Renowned hacker George Hotz is heard asking Musk a question about velocity of features*
Elon Musk: I think, frankly, if you want to have a really high velocity of features, we’ll just need to do a total re-write of the whole thing. Um…
Ian Brown: Seriously? A total re-write? That’s your prediction for velocity?
Musk: Yeah.
Hotz: Well, when you say a total re-write, do you mean starting with the skeleton, or a bunch of engineers sit down with a whiteboard and say ‘what is Twitter?’
Musk: Umm… *awkward pause*
Hotz: Revolution or reform?
Musk: I mean, I just think like, literally – *stammering* you could either try to amend the crazy stack that exists, or re-write it.
Brown: When you say ‘crazy stack’, what do you mean? Break it down.
Musk: *Awkward pause* Have you seen George’s, like, diagram?
George: *laughing*
*Talking over each other. Ian heard trying to repeat his question.*
Brown: C’mon buddy, come on.
Musk: Are you… Who are you?
Brown: What do you mean who am I? I don’t know, you gave me the f***ing mic.
Hotz: Woah woah, I’m doing the mic. Let’s keep it civil in my space.
Musk: I mean. *pause* Yeah.
Brown: I mean, man, you’re in charge of the servers and the programming and whatever. What is the stack, Elon?
Hotz: Keep things technical in my space, please.
Brown: Come on man, take me from top to bottom. What does the stack look like right now? What’s so crazy about it? What is so abnormal about this stack versus every other large-scale system on the planet, buddy? Come on! Give it to me.
Geroge: So first off-
Musk: Amazing. Wow. You’re a jackass.
Brown: *laughing*
Hotz: Ok, ok ok…
Brown: Haha, ok! I got no credibility here, buddy, I’ve got no idea what I’m talking about- *mic pulled*
Musk: Good! What a moron.
‘Wait, seriously, a total rewrite? That’s your prediction for velocity?’ Brown interrupted. ‘Yeah,’ Musk is heard, quickly replying to the question.
‘Well, when you say a total rewrite, you mean starting with the skeleton?’ Hotz interjected in the questioning. ‘Or a bunch of engineers sit down with a whiteboard and say, “What is Twitter?” Revolution or reform?’
After some uming and aring, Musk replied: ‘I mean, I just think like, literally – you could either try to amend the crazy stack that exists, or re-write it.’
Brown saw this as another opportunity to ask a question: ‘When you say crazy stack, what do you mean? Break it down.’
In basic terms, a ‘stack’ is a tech term that refers to the collection of technologies used to create a software product like Twitter.
Musk replies by asking Brown whether he had seen a diagram made by Hotz, who had resigned from Twitter earlier in the day. This prompted laughter from Brown.
Musk and Brown are there heard talking over each other, with Brown trying to get a firmer answer out of the billionaire. ‘Come on buddy, come on,’ Brown says.
Suddenly, Musk’s tone shifts. ‘Are you… Who are you?’ he asks, flustered.
‘What do you mean who am I? I don’t know, you gave me the f***ing mic,’ Brown asks, clearly bemused by Musk’s attempt to avoid answering his questions.
Hotz interrupted the conversation again at this point. ‘Let’s keep it civil in my space,’ he’s heard saying over the other two speakers.
‘I mean, man, you’re in charge of the servers and the programming and whatever. What is the stack, Elon?’ Brown asks again.
‘Take me from top to bottom. What does the stack look like right now? What’s so crazy about it? What is so abnormal about this stack versus every other large-scale system on the planet, buddy? C’mon! Give it to me.’
Instead of answering his question, Musk – clearly agitated – resorted to making ad hominem attacks against Brown.
‘So first off, amazing. Wow. You’re a jackass,’ Musk says.
Brown can be heard laughing in response, as Hotz again calls for calm.
‘Haha, ok! I’ve got no credibility here, buddy, I’ve got no idea what I’m talking about-‘ Brown says sarcastically, as the virtual mic is taken away from him.
‘Good! What a moron,’ Musk says in response, in an attempt to get in the final word in the embarrassing exchange.
Hotz, a famous ‘hacker’ known for iOS jailbreaks and for reverse engineering the PlayStation 3 (and the subsequent lawsuit brought by Sony), was hired by Musk in November to help him ‘fix’ Twitter.
However, 12 weeks on, he announced on the planform that he was stepping down, saying he ‘didn’t think there was any real impact [he] could make there’.
Musk’s Twitter Space appearance came after he announced he will resign as Twitter CEO after being defeated in his own disastrous poll on the platform. Pictured: Musk is seen in Qatar on Sunday watching the final match of the tournament
Twittergate explained: Click here to read more
The Twitter Space came after Musk announced he will resign as Twitter CEO after being defeated in his own disastrous poll on the platform.
The Tesla boss said when he uploaded the poll that he would ‘abide by’ the result – even if users said he should step down.
The result was confirmed Monday morning, with a total of 57.5 per cent of more than 17million accounts voting for him to step down from his position .
And on Wednesday, he confirmed that he would resign from the role he took on during his $44billion takeover – once he finds a replacement ‘foolish enough’ to replace him.
The billionaire tweeted: ‘I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.
Normally a prolific user of the platform, Musk, who also runs car maker Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX, did not tweet in the immediate hours following the poll.
He broke his silence just before 11.30pm Monday, when he responded: ‘Interesting’ to a suggestion from convicted fraudster Kim Dotcom that the results of the poll were skewed by fake accounts.
Replying to another user’s suggestion that ‘Blue subscribers should be the only ones that can vote in policy-related polls,’ Musk said: ‘Good point. Twitter will make that change.’
His Twitter stream continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning, linking to the site’s World Cup statistics and laughing at a satirical take on Bruce Wayne running a poll about stepping down as Batman.
Rapper Snoop Dogg jokingly ran a poll of his own, asking his followers if he should replace Musk by posing the question: ‘Should I run Twitter?’
After ten hours, 81.8 per cent of the one million people who voted in his poll said yes.
It also came in the wake of more ‘Twitter Files’ revelations, the most recent edition of which revealed that FBI officials demanded execs for the social media giant to give them information about how they were enforcing safety online.
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