Elon Musk has responded after footage emerged of a Twitter executive mocking him and calling him 'special needs'.
The video of Alex Martinez, identified as a lead client partner for Twitter, was shared online this week after being secretly filmed by an undercover reporter for far-right activist group Project Veritas.
It comes after Musk agreed to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, though the sale is on hold as Musk looks into the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Martinez showed the undercover journalist an email from Twitter's corporate security that warned employees, ironically, of sting operations that would see employees being recorded, saying: "Groups like Project Veritas are active right now."
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"Like they're trying to go on dates with them, like this," Martinez commented. "And then record them and then go sell it to the New York Times and say: 'This is what the Twitter employee just said.' Like this is what is really happening. Lucky I met you organically, or I would be questioning you."
In the clip, Martinez made comments about Musk's apparent plans for the company and called him 'special'.
"He has Asperger's. So he's special! I'm like, you're special needs – you're literally special needs. So I can't even take what you're saying seriously," the exec said.
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He went on to describe the SpaceX CEO as 'a loony tune', and also condemned Musk's efforts to bring free speech back to the platform.
"The rest of us who have been here believe in something that's good for the planet and not just to give people free speech," Martinez said.
Musk was tagged in a tweet containing the video in the early hours of this morning (18 May), to which he responded: "Twitter exec trashing free speech & mocking people with Asperger’s ... "
The potential new owner of Twitter pinned the response to his account, and indicated his feelings on the matter by tweeting a frown emoji.
Musk revealed he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome on an episode of Saturday Night Live last year, saying during his opening monologue: "I don't always have a lot of intonation or variation in how I speak... which I'm told makes for great comedy. I'm actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger's to host SNL."
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Martinez's comments come after Twitter senior engineer Siru Murugesan was caught saying the platform 'does not believe in free speech' in another video shared by Project Veritas.
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Emily Brown