Billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk added some humor to the rancorous Twitter storm precipitated by his return-to-the-office policy for employees.
Musk capitalized on a closet containing promotional shirts with the caption “#Stay Woke” on the front in a tweet seen by 22 million.
He had a new T-shirt designed, similar in appearance to the plentiful supply unearthed in Twitter HQ’s closet. Musk changed only the caption. The front of his redesigned T saying “Stay @ Work” was displayed in a tweet announcing “Awesome new Twitter merch!”
Fox News further reported:
The new design, which could be just a meme, is a reference to Musk’s changing or work policy at Twitter. After he took over the platform, Musk ended remote work for employees, a convenience that was made widely available under the coronavirus pandemic.
In a mass email on Nov. 9, Musk said there was “no way to sugarcoat the message” and that employees should expect changes concerning office policy.
The email allegedly said Musk will discontinue remote work and will be requiring employees to be in the office for at least 40 hours per week. Any exceptions would need his personal approval, Bloomberg reported.
He echoed these requirements in an all-hands meeting with Twitter employees, Platformer Managing Editor Zoe Schiffer reported in a tweet.
“If you can physically make it to an office and you don’t show up, resignation accepted,” he said on Nov. 10.
The changes were implemented within two weeks of Musk completing his $44 billion acquisition of the company.
On Tuesday, Musk posted a video of him and another person finding an entire “secret closet” full of shirts that read: #StayWoke.
“Here we are at the [merchandise] thing and there’s an entire closet full of hashtag woke,” Musk said. An unidentified person off-camera added: “A secret closet.”
In the aftermath of the purchase, critics have vocalized concerns Musk’s push to enable “free speech” on the platform would allow discrimination, insults, and fake news to flourish.
Musk has since highlighted that “hate speech impressions” are down by a third, an accolade he credited to the remaining Twitter employees.
Others criticized Musk’s decision to reinstate previously banned users like former President Donald Trump and the satirical website Babylon Bee.
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