1 week ago
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Scotland's erstwhile archetypal minister, Humza Yousaf, has accused tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of accessing his backstage messages arsenic portion of a bid to "besmirch" his reputation.
The ex-SNP person claimed successful a Tortoise Media podcast that the X proprietor "scours" the communications of radical helium views arsenic a "threat".
He said helium was "certain" the billionaire had entree to his backstage communications connected the platform.
The podcast said it understood Musk had denied ever accessing backstage messages connected X.
That escalated implicit the summertime during far-right riots successful England and Northern Ireland.
The erstwhile archetypal curate described Musk arsenic a "race baiter" and "one of the astir unsafe men connected the planet”.
The X proprietor replied by calling Yousaf a racist "scumbag", posting: "I situation that scumbag to writer me."
He added: “Legal find volition amusement that nevertheless large a racist he’s been successful nationalist communications, helium is vastly worse successful backstage communications.”
Speaking to the Elon's Spies podcast, Yousaf described the remark arsenic an effort to “threaten and intimidate” him.
“I’m definite helium has a full squad of radical who are present looking astatine immoderate accusation they tin stitchery connected maine and effort to usage it to besmirch my reputation," helium said. "And they’ll usage immoderate nefarious tactics successful bid to bash that."
The erstwhile archetypal curate said helium interpreted Musk's station arsenic a "pointed accusation", noting that radical commented underneath urging the X proprietor to "release" backstage messages.
Yousaf told the podcast: “I’m thinking, I’ve been connected Twitter for a agelong time, person I made an off-colour joke? Have I said thing successful a backstage communication?
"So, I thought I amended bash the loop and braces thing, and arsenic I accidental determination was thing there, and unsurprisingly so.
“But present is idiosyncratic who is fundamentally saying to maine by the mode ‘you amended ticker out; I’m going to merchandise worldly connected you and it’s going to marque your beingness hell’.”
Yousaf repeated claims that the Trump-supporting tech entrepreneur was a racist, with "far-right, achromatic supremacist tendencies”.
He added: “Elon Musk could person trillions fto unsocial billions and helium wouldn’t person capable to unopen maine up.”
X has been approached for comment.
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