Elon Musk tried to call out a disabled ex-Twitter employee but was brutally shut down when the worker told his own story

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.

Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

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 👋

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

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

“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 design 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 no 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 embrace an “extremely hardcore” work culture or take severance, which came late and was below the promised amount. Some former employees are pursuing legal action against Musk and Twitter for reneging on the financial obligations made to employees.