Stephen King calls Elon Musk a “visionary” who has been “terrible” for Twitter

27 November, 2022

Stephen King has continued his criticism of Elon Musk and his time in charge of Twitter.

Last month, following the news that Musk was looking to charge for verification on Twitter, King wrote: “$20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me,” before threatening to quit the platform.

Now King has called Musk a “visionary” but insisted that the billionaire has been “terrible” for Twitter.

“I think Elon Musk is a visionary. Almost single handedly, he’s changed the way Americans think about automobiles. I have a Tesla and love it,” said King. “That said, he’s been a terrible fit for Twitter. He appears to be making it up as he goes along.”

“Be aware that I never said Musk CREATED Tesla. He didn’t. He just made it a success, against long odds. If you really want to understand how amazing that was, look at the DeLorian,” King continued before adding “But Twitter ain’t cars and Twitter ain’t rockets.”

Musk officially became the owner of Twitter in October and immediately fired several top executives. In the weeks since, Musk has laid off thousands of employees, and advertisers have begun fleeing the platform in droves. Within days of Musk’s takeover, hate speech on Twitter reportedly spiked.

Last week, Musk also allegedly told the remaining Twitter staff that they must “work long hours at high intensity” or leave the company, with rumours of the site’s collapse following soon after. 

Replying to King, Musk said “suggestions are welcome”.

He then added: “The goal is a trusted digital town square, where a wide range of views are tolerated, provided people don’t break the law or spam. For example, any incitement to violence will result in account suspension.”

“Stephen King is one of most creative people on Earth. While I may not agree with everything he says, I do actually want to hear it,” Musk continued.

A number of high profile users have quit Twitter, following Musk’s takeover of Twitter while the likes of Kathy Burke, Stephen Fry, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, comedy band SpitLip and Jack White have criticised Musk.

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor called Musk’s handling of Twitter an “embarrassment” before he said “we don’t need the arrogance of the billionaire class to feel like they can just come in and solve everything.” Reznor then quit Twitter, with Musk calling him a “crybaby“.

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