A tech millionaire's $100,000 (£83,000) offer to a woman sitting next to him on a plane has been slammed as "creepy".
Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Kirsch claimed to be shocked after the female passenger refused to remove her mask despite being offered the massive sum of money to do so.
Mr Kirsch was accused of spreading Covid misinformation during the pandemic.
Describing his latest stunt, he wrote: “I am on board a Delta flight right now. The person sitting next to me in first class refused $100,000 to remove her mask for the entire flight. No joke. This was after I explained they don’t work."
He claimed he started out by offering $100 and said: "And I pointed out that when she removed the mask for eating and drinking, she could be infected with one breath. So she had full disclosure.
"She took off her mask as soon as the breakfast was served. Because everyone knows you can’t get infected while you are eating."
Comparing the woman to those who invested with the collapsed tech bank SVB, he joked: "Maybe next time I’ll sit next to someone who had an account at Silicon Valley Bank."
But his antics were quickly slammed by other Twitter users.
One wrote: “Did you have the $100,000 in cash? If not, you sound like a lunatic. How could they trust you’d pay up?”
Another said: “They probably didn’t think you had even $5."
It wasn't the only time his strange inflight approaches have been turned down.
Three days before he tweeted that two people had refused similar requests.
He wrote: “I asked the people sitting next to me on the plane if I paid them $10,000 would they remove their mask for the duration of the flight? Both declined the offer. Maybe I should offer $100,000 next time?”
His propositions were criticised by other online folk.
One wrote: “Women don’t want to make deals with creepy men on planes. It’s not complicated."
Another: “Do you make a habit of offering money to random women to remove coverings from their bodies mid-air?”
One user complained the $100,000 wouldn't nearly cover hospital bills racked up if someone actually got a bad case of Covid.
They wrote: “My hospital bills after admission for Covid came to over $300,000 (including the $80,000 air ambulance because local hospitals were all full), plus loss of clients/income, lung damage, ongoing disability, recovery/support expenses, etc - I’d need a minimum of $5million cash in hand.
“I wore a mask on the plane and still got Covid. I already have long Covid. My physical therapy bills laugh at your measly $10,000".
