“You Just Lied”: Elon Musk Busts BBC Reporter, Leaves Him Stammering In Live Interview: “That’s why I’m asking for examples, can you name one example”
Twitter CEO Elon Musk humiliated James Clayton when he pressed the BBC reporter for an example of hateful content on the social media platform. The interview was streamed Tuesday night on Twitter Spaces and saw Clayton try to accuse Musk of letting more hateful content on Twitter since taking over.
But Musk wasn’t having it and asked for specific examples. The BBC report tried to dodge the question but Musk persisted. “So you think if something is slightly sexist, it should be banned?” Musk asked.
“I’m not saying anything,” Clayton said but Musk said, “I’m just curious what you mean by hateful content. I’m asking for specific examples. And you just said that if something is slightly sexist, that’s hateful content. Does that mean that it should be banned?”
Clayton: You’ve asked me whether my feed, whether it’s got less or more. I’d say it’s got slightly more.
Musk: That’s why I’m asking for examples. Can you name one example?
Clayton: I honestly don’t — honestly…
Musk: You can’t name a single example?
Clayton: I’ll tell you why, because I don’t actually use that feed anymore. Because I just don’t particularly like it. I think a lot of people are quite similar. I only look at what my followers said.”
Musk: You’ve said you’ve seen more hateful content, but you can’t name a single example. Not even one.
Clayton: I’m not sure I’ve used that feed for the last three or four weeks.
Musk: But then, how can you see that hateful content?
Clayton: Because I’ve been I’ve been using it. I’ve been using Twitter since you’ve taken over the last six months.
Musk: So then, you must have at some point seen that hateful content. I’m asking you for one example, and you can’t give a single one…Then I say so that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Clayton: Really?
Musk: Yes. Because you can’t give a single example of hateful content. Not even one tweet. And yet, you claimed the hateful content was high. That was false. You just lied.
Musk: “Give me one example.”
Clayton mentioned the Institute for Strategic Dialogue “will say that,” causing Musk to fire back “people will say all sorts of nonsense. I’m asking for a single example. You can’t name one.”
Clayton: “I don’t think this is getting anywhere. I can’t give you an example.”