Music legend Elton John announced on Friday morning that he is leaving Twitter because new owner Elon Musk’s new policies “will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.”
“All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world. I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked,” the Oscar and Grammy-winner tweeted in his farewell message.
Musk replied a few hours later, “I love your music. Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you’re concerned about?” but got no answer.
The “Rocket Man” singer could have been referring to the new Twitter policy not to flag COVID misinformation.
Later Friday, Elton’s tweet had 171,000 likes while Musk’s had 177,400.
Musk was not so polite in November when Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor announced his departure after Musk welcomed back Donald Trump: The SpaceX founder blasted him as a “crybaby.”
Reznor’s parting message, as told to The Hollywood Reporter, was, “We don’t need the arrogance of the billionaire class to feel like they can just come in and solve everything. Even without him involved, I just find that it has become such a toxic environment. For my mental health, I need to tune out. I don’t feel good being there anymore.”
Musk’s “crybaby” comment prompted former “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star Wil Wheaton to pen a Facebook post that he couldn’t “fathom [Musk’s] emptiness, the insecurity, the insatiable need for attention and validation, the staggering arrogance, the malevolence and total void of human experience.”
Other celebrities who have left Twitter since Musk’s takeover include Jim Carrey, Whoopi Goldberg, director Rob Reiner, singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and Jack White.
Several big-name advertisers have also stopped advertising on the platform, which has seen a spike in hate speech, including from Kanye “Ye” West. Musk welcomed “Ye” back before having to ban him again after the rapper posted an antisemitic image of a swastika inside a Star of David.
