Nine Inch Nails singer Trent Reznor said he was quitting Twitter to protect his mental health, and the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, mocked the musician as a “crybaby.” The putdown prompted actor Wil Wheaton to slam Musk as a malevolent force and “hurt person who is hurting our society.”
Reznor told The Hollywood Reporter last week that he was “about to depart” the social media website.
“We don’t need the arrogance of the billionaire class to feel like they can just come in and solve everything,” Reznor told the outlet. “Even without [Musk] involved, I just find that it has become such a toxic environment. For my mental health, I need to tune out. I don’t feel good being there anymore.”
Musk fired back at Reznor in response to a tweet about former President Donald Trump’s reinstatement to Twitter, which Musk announced this week after conducting an unscientific poll.
“It turns out that Trent ‘nine inch nails’ Reznor is actually a crybaby,” Musk taunted. A Nine Inch Nails fan slammed Musk as a “stupid idiot,” declaring Reznor “one of the best musicians ever.” Musk responded: “I like his music tbh, but maybe Etsy is more his style.”
Musk’s dismissal of Reznor’s concerns prompted Wheaton to post a lengthy Facebook post in which he said he could “not fathom the emptiness, the insecurity, the insatiable need for attention and validation, the staggering arrogance, the malevolence and total void of human experience” of Musk.
Wheaton ripped Musk for bullying, threatening and trolling “like the weak, scared, insecure child he has always been.”
“That’s a tragedy for him, but it’s dangerous for us,” the actor continued. “He doesn’t care what he destroys or who he hurts as he chases this existential thing he can not ever have.”
“You know the saying ‘hurt people hurt people’? He’s a hurt person who is hurting our society, making people I care about less safe,” he added. “The consequences of this one man’s midlife crisis are global, and that terrifies me.”
Read Wheaton’s full commentary here: