Elon Musk tried to pick a fight with a major airline CEO — who says thanks for all the additional business you’re bringing in with your public tantrum, sucker.
“We love these PR spats that drive bookings on Ryanair,” the budget airline’s chief Michael O’Leary said at a news conference in Dublin on Wednesday, as quoted by CNN. “And we want to thank him sincerely for the additional publicity.”
The trash talking began last week when the Irish airline, the largest in Europe, said it wouldn’t install its fleet with Starlink technology, a satellite-based internet service operated by Musk’s company SpaceX. O’Leary claimed that the Starlink antennas would add drag to the planes and drive up fuel costs.
Musk could barely hide the sting he felt from the snub. He initially responded by calling O’Leary “misinformed” and added that he doubted Ryanair “can even measure the difference in fuel use accurately.”
Smelling controversy, O’Leary went on a interview with the Irish radio station Newstalk to taunt the world’s richest man.
“I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk,” O’Leary said. “He’s an idiot. Very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot. What Elon Musk knows about flights and drag would be zero.”
Musk, naturally, took the bait. O’Leary was no longer merely “misinformed,” but a “retarded twat who needs to be fired,” he seethed in response to the official Ryanair X account joking that wifi on planes was a scam.
Musk even threatened to buy out the airliner and posted a poll asking his fans whether he should “restore Ryan as their rightful ruler” once he does. Clearly, Grok was not consulted before putting up the poll: the “Ryan” Musk is presumably referring to is the Irish billionaire Tony Ryan, who died in 2007.
O’Leary didn’t back down. Tagging Musk’s account, the Ryanair account announced that it was launching a “Great Idiots seat sale” dedicated to “Elon and any other idiots on ‘X,’” and that O’Leary would be giving a press conference “to address (undress??)” Musk’s “latest Twitshit.” (Yes, they went there.)
Again, Musk fell for the trap.
“The insufferable, special needs chimp currently running Ryan Air is an accountant,” he fumed in response to the announcement. “Has no idea how airplanes even fly.”
Ryanair and its CEO, not unlike Musk, are no strangers to controversy and often actively court it. Musk, though, is being thoroughly outdone at his own shtick. At the Wednesday conference, O’Leary gloated about the success of the “Big Idiot Seat Sale” and said he wasn’t bothered by Musk’s tirades.
“As anybody with teenage children would know, you’re frequently called an idiot and a twat at home,” he said, per CNN. “I don’t need to go outside to be insulted.”
He also said that while only European citizens could own European airlines, Musk was welcome to pour money into the company. “We would think it’s a very good investment, certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he is earning on X.”
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