--- title: "Fired Twitter Employee Unloads on Elon Musk’s “Clowntown”" description: "One disgruntled ex-Twitter employee is sounding off on how bad the site has gotten in the week since Elon Musk took ownership of it." date: "2022-11-04" modified: "2022-11-04" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/fired-twitter-employee-unloads-elon-musk" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Fired Twitter Employee Unloads on Elon Musk’s “Clowntown” ![One disgruntled ex-Twitter employee is sounding off on how bad the site has gotten in the week since Elon Musk took ownership of it.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Crapshoot While lots and lots of [laid off Twitter employees]() are undoubtedly upset at having lost their livelihoods, at least one is relieved to be leaving the worsening cesspool as it continues its downfall under Elon Musk's ownership. "Honestly happy to be laid off but the veil of \[Elon Musk\] is pierced," [tweeted]() Kushal Dave, the founder of the Scroll app that [Twitter acquired in 2021](). "As messy as Twitter was pre-\[E\]lon, it is a veritable clowntown of politics and toadyism and psychological abuse now," Dave continued, joking that he's now "afraid to get in my Tesla with what I learned this week." While relieved that he no longer has to work in the apparent shitshow that is Musk's Twitter, [the Scroll founder said]() he is "extremely pissed for the people who were on the wrong side of Elon's court intrigue." "This isn't a game," Dave, who has also worked for other huge tech companies like Foursquare, Chartbeat, and Google, added. ## Cull the Herd This commentary from the disgruntled ex-"tweep" comes amid Musk's mass culling of staff at the social network he only purchased a week ago. Along with reported plans to [lay off up to half of Twitter's staff](), the billionaire also reportedly [tried to circumvent payouts]() after firing the company's board of directors, including ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, by saying they'd been terminated "for cause." As far as Dave, novelist [Stephen King](), and a [sizable portion of Twitter users]() are concerned, the Tesla and SpaceX-owning firebrand is far from fit to run the site. "The whole idea that someone who has an army of trolls who descend when you say their name Voldemort-style is fit to understand what it's like to use this as a normie is... dubious," [the Scroll founder tweeted](). "Dubious" is one word for it. "Outrageous," "imbecilic," and "hilarious" are three others. **More Musk:** [*Elon Musk Melts Down as Advertisers Flee Twitter Chaos*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()