Did Elon Musk Poke Fun at Black Twitter Staff BLM Initiatives

Latest updates from the Twitter HQ: Reports tell us that Twitter CEO Elon Musk seemed to poke fun at Twitter-based antiracism initiatives. This is captured in a series of tweets, some of which have already been deleted as of this writing.

According to the Independent, the billionaire appears to laugh at statement t-shirts designed by members of Twitter's internal business group for black employees.

In a 12-second video posted earlier Wednesday, Nov. 23, Elon records a closet filled with t-shirts with "#STAYWOKE" printed on them. Elon Musk captions the image, "Found in closet at Twitter HQ fr," with two hard laugh emojis.

Elon Musk Mocks Black Twitter Staff

The Twitter chief then criticized Black Lives Matter protesters, stating that the shirts he showed in the video were from demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri. He also mentioned how the protests that took place in the said area were actually misguided.

The auto and tech magnate claimed that the phrase "Hands up, don't shoot" was made up. According to the Independent, Musk later deleted that post and simply shared a link to the Department of Justice report into the death of Michael Brown, which sparked those protests. "The whole thing was a fiction," Musk said.

The shirts that Musk found were made by Twitter's "Blackbirds" group. The said Twitter group was founded in 2014 as a business resource group for "Black Tweeps" and allies with the goal of creating a safe space for the Black community.

Shavone Charles founded Blackbird, which is renowned for being an important resource group for Black employees and allies.

When the group started selling the shirts in April 2016, Blackbirds said that its mission was to "support and promote diversity at Twitter, create a more inclusive work environment, and enrich communities outside of Twitter."

Stay Woke

The term "woke" has become increasingly popular in recent years as groups stage protests to draw attention to various societal injustices. The term has become an online buzzword for extreme political correctness or taking the moral high ground.

The group has already clarified that the message of the Twitter HQ T-shirts "simply means to stay informed about the events happening in the world around you."

Reports tell us that after sharing a video of the shirts, Musk then shared a post more explicitly attacking those t-shirts, claiming they "stem from Ferguson protests" and that "Obama's own DOJ proved this [and] exonerated the cop."

Although the Department of Justice concluded that officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown in self-defense, the movement heavily criticized the police department and its response to the subsequent protests.

Musk's recent tweets have received a particularly high level of engagement. The tweet about T-shirts received 40,000 replies and 55,000 retweets within hours of posting. This is not surprising given that the "Chief Twit" currently has 118.4 million followers. He is only second to President Barack Obama in terms of popularity on the platform.