Elon Musk has reportedly fired 2,000 employees from X (formerly Twitter) overnight after a viral internal post mocked the tragic assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The joke – reportedly made by a mid-level content moderator – was shared in a private Slack channel but quickly leaked onto the X platform itself, where screenshots began circulating just hours after Kirk’s funeral.
The post is described as “cruel” and “deeply disrespectful.
“You don’t mock the dead. You don’t mock someone who was fighting for what they believed in – whether you agreed with them or not,” Musk reportedly told executives during an emergency call late last night.
At 3:00 AM, employees at X began receiving termination emails. By sunrise, entire teams had been wiped out – including content moderation groups, middle management, and communications staff. Over 2,000 people were affected in what some employees are calling “The Midnight Massacre.”
Insiders say Musk personally ordered a full audit of all internal communications, demanding to know who reacted with laughing emojis or even acknowledged the joke.
“He wanted names. He wanted accountability,” said a former HR staffer who was also fired.
