Elon Musk has been blowing up social media lately. Quite literally. Twitter has never been in worse shape since Musk became CEO. Users haven’t been shy about pointing out his mistakes. But Reed Hastings, Co-Chief of Netflix, believes the egotistical billionaire is just misunderstood. At the New York Times DealBook conference, Hastings sang Musk’s praises, for some reason.
Hastings reverently described Musk as “the bravest, most creative person on the planet.” Hastings even claimed the money Musk spent acquiring Twitter could have been used on a billionaire’s typical frivolities, like a “mile-long yacht.” He claimed Musk instead chose to “help the planet” by buying the social media platform. Moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin pressed this point. Does Hastings really thing Musk has the planet’s best interest at heart?
Jerks Supporting Jerks
Hastings is “100% convinced that he [Musk] is trying to help the world in all of his endeavors.” He elaborated by claiming Musk is helping free speech and democracy. “Can you give the guy a break? This guy just spent all this money trying to make things better for democracy and society, to have a more open platform, and I am sympathetic to that agenda.” Because encouraging racists to spew hatespeech all over Twitter and reinstating Trump’s account is democratic, right? The only other people that claim they’re helping the world while purposefully making things worse are super villains.
Hastings supporting someone who’s first instinct towards nay-sayers is to block or fire them is troubling. Then again, his response to questions regarding Dave Chapelle‘s comedy special speaks volumes. The special was rife transphobic “jokes,” and severely offended the LGBTQ community. “Our brand is trying to be the most exciting entertainment brand in the world and Chappelle is dead-center for us,” according to Hastings. “He [Chappelle] is the best, or one of the best and that special was one of the most entertaining and watched specials we’ve ever had. We would do it again and again.”
Excuse us while we roll our eyes. This is a billionaire coming to the aid of another billionaire who won’t stop publicly bemoaning problems he’s caused for himself.
