Musk encourages Elton John to stay on Twitter after star announced departure
Heather Hunter
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Twitter CEO Elon Musk urged British pop star Elton John on Friday to stay on Twitter after the “Rocket Man” released a statement announcing that he was quitting due to the platform allowing “misinformation to flourish unchecked.”
“I love your music. Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you’re concerned about?” Musk responded to John.
The “Tiny Dancer” singer had tweeted the statement hours earlier about his decision to leave the platform.
“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,” John wrote. “I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.”
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One Twitter user told Musk, “It’s prob another newly minted marxist social media person w/brain damage that posted this, Elton likely has nothing to do w/what’s posted on here.”
Musk responded that more celebrities should write their own posts.
“Way better to hear directly from them,” he said.
Before Musk encouraged John to stay, he tweeted his confusion about the statements of the musician.”What is this ‘misinformation’ that he refers to?” the Twitter executive asked.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani criticized John’s announcement.”Hi @EltonOfficial! I admit, I had no idea you even had Twitter until now but I figured you and @ElonMusk — an actual ROCKETMAN — would get along,” the former presidential candidate tweeted at the “Bennie and The Jets” singer.
“Boy, this is a far cry from the Elton John who played at both [President] Donald Trump’s and Rush Limbaugh’s weddings. Stick to singing!”
Nick Freitas, a Republican in the Virginia House of Delegates, called it “a win-win” that the singer was leaving the platform because his departure statement “just spread misinformation.”
“Well, since you just spread misinformation on Twitter, I guess your departure will prevent you from spreading misinformation on Twitter. So win, win?” tweeted the state delegate.
Several members of the entertainment world have also quit the platform in recent weeks, including comedian Jim Carrey, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg, Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Shonda Rimes, actors Tea Leoni, Alex Winter aka Bill from the Bill & Ted franchise, and model Gigi Hadid, as well as musicians Trent Reznor, Sara Bareilles, Toni Braxton, Liz Phair, and Jack White.
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John did not elaborate to his 1.1 million Twitter followers on what changes in policy he was referring to, and he has not responded to Musk’s request.