Elon Musk has received a frosty welcome after being brought onstage by Dave Chappelle at the comedian's show in San Francisco.
And a day after the incident on Chappelle's stage, it was revealed Mr Musk's Twitter had dissolved the platform's Trust and Safety Council.
Mr Musk made an appearance at Chase Center on Sunday night after Chappelle told his audience to make some noise for the "world's richest man".
In footage, the billionaire was seen holding his hands high above his head in triumph, waiting for the roar of adoration from Chappelle's thousands-strong crowd.
But the praise never came as the audience loudly booed Mr Musk on sight.
Clad in a "I love Twitter" shirt, the Tesla CEO appeared confused by the hostile reception as Chappelle tried to make light of the uncomfortable situation.
After all, Mr Musk was appearing in San Francisco where just months ago thousands of Twitter employees lost their jobs following his $US44 billion ($65b) takeover of the social media company, with the ones who stayed told they had to work "long hours at high intensity".
"It sounds like some of those people you fired are in the audience," Chappelle quipped as the boos grew louder.
Visibly uncomfortable with the situation, Mr Musk asked Chappelle what to say, to which the comedian responded: "Don't say nothing, you hear that sound, Elon? That's the sound of pending civil unrest."
Video of the show also showed Mr Musk screaming, "I'm rich, bitch!" into the microphone before a loud air horn sounded.
As more footage of the awkward encounter surfaced on the very platform that Mr Musk owns, the billionaire attempted to smooth things over, saying that only 10 per cent of the crowd were booing and that he "offended SF's unhinged leftists".
Mr Musk's interpretation was contrary to some of those in the crowd.
Writer James Yu tweeted that "a good 80% of the stadium boos" and that Mr Musk's appearance had "no value at all".
Mr Musk's constantly bubbling pot of online controversy spilled over again in recent days after he tweeted, "My pronouns are prosecute/Fauci", in reference to Anthony Fauci, the US president's chief medical advisor who guided the country through the first years of the pandemic.
Some within the ultra right-wing believe that Mr Fauci should be charged with crimes related to his involvement in US's COVID response, despite no evidence that he did anything illegal.
Mr Musk's tweet also echoed a common anti-transgender joke of disrespecting people's chosen pronouns.
Dave Chappelle has also come under fire this year for his Netflix special The Closer, which took aim at the trans community, resulting in Netflix employees staging a walkout to protest against the program remaining on the streaming platform.
Earlier in the year, Chappelle was tackled by an audience member at a performance. Following the assault, Chappelle joked that his attacker "was a trans man".
Twitter's Trust and Safety advisory group disbanded
Twitter has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of about 100 independent civil, human rights and other organisations that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform.
The council had been scheduled to meet with Twitter representatives on Monday night.
However, Twitter informed the group via email that it was disbanding it shortly before the meeting was to take place, according to multiple members.
The volunteer group provided expertise and guidance on how Twitter could better combat hate, harassment and other harmful content.
"At no point was it a governing body or decision making," former council member Alex Holmes said on Twitter.
Last Thursday, three council members had announced they were resigning.
In a public statement posted on Twitter, they said that "contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and wellbeing of Twitter's users are on the decline".
Those former council members soon became the target of online attacks after Mr Musk amplified criticism of them and Twitter's past leadership for allegedly not doing enough to stop child sexual exploitation on the platform.
ABC/AP
