Elon Musk mocks Twitter staff fired for criticizing him, saying 'these geniuses' will 'no doubt be of great use elsewhere'

• Elon Musk on Tuesday used a sarcastic tweet to mock Twitter staff he'd fired for criticizing him.
• Several employees were reportedly fired after criticizing Musk on internal chats and Twitter itself.

Elon Musk took to Twitter on Tuesday to mock employees he'd fired for criticizing him in public and private.

Twitter sacked at least two dozen staff on Monday, informing them in an email that their "recent behavior has violated company policy," Insider reported. Twitter didn't specify why they were fired but multiple reports suggested it was down to their criticism of Musk in internal Slack chats and public posts on Twitter.

"I would like to apologize for firing these geniuses," Musk tweeted. "Their immense talent will no doubt be of great use elsewhere."

Earlier, a Twitter user shared screenshots of tweets from a former Twitter software engineer who said Monday she'd lost her job after being openly critical of Musk.

Musk replied to the post saying: "A tragic case of adult onset Tourette's."

The same day, he made another dig apparently aimed at a sacked Twitter engineer who'd criticized him, tweeting: "Starlink is rebuilding the Internet in space, so maybe I know slightly more than some guy who wrote code for a website."

Also on Tuesday, Musk tweeted a photo of him standing between two men who were pretending to be laid-off employees. "Welcoming back Ligma & Johnson!" Musk wrote in the caption.

In October, shortly after Musk assumed control of Twitter, the two men were photographed outside Twitter's San Francisco headquarters carrying boxes of belongings, pretending to be laid-off employees.

In a follow-up tweet Tuesday, Musk wrote: "Important to admit when I'm wrong & firing them was truly one of my biggest mistakes."

Twitter didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Since completing his purchase of Twitter on October 27, Musk has laid off 3,700 employees, including top executives such as former CEO Parag Agrawal.

This week, Musk posted a since-deleted tweet saying Eric Frohnhoefer, a Twitter software engineer, had been fired after Frohnhoefer tweeted criticism of Musk. Two other engineers said they'd been fired within 24 hours of criticizing Musk.