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Musk accused of misogyny for criticism of two female Twitter execs, top lawyer cried at buyout meeting

April 27, 2022 | | Print Article

Even before Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the left was apoplectic at the possibility, and since the company has now gone private things appear to have escalated.

The billionaire wasted no time in criticizing some of the company’s top executives, including its chief legal officer who reportedly cried during a meeting with employees while discussing the ownership change. As Musk publicly called out Twitter decisions like the “inappropriate” move to censor stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop, another Twitter executive accused him of misogyny for criticism of two female execs at the company.

“Color me shocked SHOCKED that people are coming for two of our prominent female executives on day 1 of this thing,” Lara Cohen, head of the Global Partnership Solutions team at Twitter, wrote on Tuesday.

She was evidently referring to attacks by Musk and others on the social media platform of the company’s top lawyer Vijaya Gadde, and its chief marketing officer, Leslie Berland.

Musk had reacted to a tweet reporting about Gadde’s emotional breakdown during a meeting with staff. The lawyer, who is “seen internally as Twitter’s ‘moral authority,” according to Politico, oversees trust and safety as well as content moderation.

Gadde “has shepherded Twitter through some of its most contentious political battles, including the decisions to remove all political advertising and to boot former President Donald Trump from the platform in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill,” Politico reported.

Sources told the outlet that during a virtual meeting with employees, the top lawyer had become emotional. Musk reacted in a scathing rebuke on Twitter.

“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” he wrote, referring to Twitter’s decision, ostensibly under Gadde’s leadership, to suspend the New York Post’s account after its report on Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election.

Twitter’s chief marketing officer, Leslie Berland, was also in the spotlight when audio footage from an all-hands virtual meeting was leaked to Project Veritas. She took to the platform later to address the issue.

Musk also commented on a tweet from conservative commentator Mike Cernovich who called out another Twitter lawyer, Jim Baker, and his background.

“Twitter lawyer Jim Baker, when general counsel of the FBI, personally arranged a meeting between the FBI and Michael Sussmann. In this meeting, Sussmann presented fabricated evidence in the Alfa bank matter,’ Cernovich tweeted Tuesday. “@elonmusk, this is who is inside Twitter. He facilitated fraud.”

“Sounds pretty bad …” Musk replied.

Musk has vowed to return free speech to the social media platform and, on Tuesday, he responded to much of the woke backlash to his Twitter purchase.

The Tesla/SpaceX CEO also seemed to throw some shade when he noted that former President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, “is currently beating Twitter & TikTok on the Apple Store.”

“Truth Social is number ONE in the Apple App Store,” Trump said Tuesday in a statement through his Save American PAC.

Earlier this week, the former president addressed rumors about his return to Twitter with a Musk takeover.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH,” Trump told Fox News. “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.”

Frieda Powers
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