Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been met with a loud wave of boos after being called on stage by Dave Chappelle at a San Francisco show.
Chappelle was on stage at the city’s Chase Centre on Sunday (local time), mic in hand, when he asked the crowd to “make some noise for the richest man in the world”.
And it did, but perhaps not that way he intended.
Rather, the audience did not hold back in showing its disdain for Twitter’s new CEO. As Mr Musk walked out, the 18,000-strong audience did make lots of noise, booing noise.
Footage of the incident shows the billionaire joining Chappelle while clad in an “I love Twitter” T-shirt. He appears to expect applause but the reality of his popularity, or lack thereof, with the assembled audience quickly sets in.
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The duo stood on stage awkwardly as Mr Musk copped the intensifying volume, with boos continuing for up to 10 minutes.
Then Chappelle took the reins, joking that the crowd was likely filled with former Twitter employees.
“It sounds like some of the people you fired are in the audience,” the comedian quipped to a visibly uncomfortable Mr Musk, before suggesting that others had “terrible seats”.
Chappelle was referencing the thousands of Twitter workers who have lost their jobs since Mr Musk’s takeover – one of many points of contention arising from the billionaire’s stint as the social media giant’s boss.
As the boos continued, the comedian encouraged Musk to scream his signature Chappelle Show catchphrase “I’m rich b—h!”. Then the show’s producers played air horns to try to drown out the derision.
Mr Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been riddled with controversy and drama since he first offered a gargantuan sum to buy it. It hasn’t stopped as his harsh expectations of employees have emerged and he has imposed some controversial decisions.
Following his $65 billion acquisition, the Tesla billionaire reinstated the account of former US president Donald Trump, another move that drew considerable criticism.
Mr Musk’s appearance with Chappelle came after a weekend where he appeared to spend much of his time spouting far-right tropes. It included calling for US pandemic health boss Anthony Fauci to be prosecuted, spreaing QAnon conspiracies and making transphobic remarks.
Tweet from @elonmusk
Tweet from @elonmusk
‘What shall I say?’
As the audience booed, Mr Musk, who is better known for quips and snappy retorts, stood on stage apparently mystified and speechless at his reception.
He looked to Chappelle for support.
“Dave, what shall I say?” he said.
“Don’t say nothing … You hear that sound, Elon? That’s the sound of pending civil unrest,” the comedian said.
By Monday, the world was presented with a more familiar Mr Musk, as he took to Twitter to offer his version. The audience noise was “technically … 90 per cent cheers and 10 per cent boos”, he wrote.
Writer James Yu, who was in the San Francisco audience, had a different story. “A good 80 per cent of the stadium” got involved in displaying contempt for the Twitter CEO, he tweeted.
Tweet from @jamesjyu
