Elon Musk Takes Nasty Shot at Kara Swisher After X CEO’s Disastrous On-Stage Interview At Her Conference

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Elon Musk took a personal jab at tech journalist Kara Swisher on Wednesday night in response to an accusation from an Axios editor that Vox Media’s Code Conference, which Swisher co-founded, “sandbagged” X CEO Linda Yaccarino by having her speak after Yoel Roth, the former head of Twitter’s trust and safety department.

Axios’s Dan Primack tweeted the accusation on Wednesday night as news was breaking from Yaccarino’s disastrous interview at the Code conference. Primack shared a tweet from Insider’s Ben Bergman detailing Yaccarino’s trainwreck of an interview. Bergman wrote, “This is so surreal. Everyone in the audience still stunned and some even nervously chuckling. @karaswisher looking on from the back. @lindayaX seems totally out of her depth on stage.”

Primack shared that tweet and added:

Yeah, they sandbagged her (and Julia to some extent). Will make it much tougher for Code to book future guests. But Linda runs one of the world’s most powerful platforms — one that must make very tough and sometimes quick decisions. Got to be able to roll w/ the punches.

Musk responded to Primack, “Kara should take it easy on the Adderall – foaming at the mouth is just not a good look.”  Swisher and Musk’s relationship goes back to the entrepreneur’s days at PayPal as she covered his rise in the tech world and helped to make him a household name. In recent months, however, they have traded jabs as Swisher has criticized Musk’s increasingly outlandish takes, leadership, and political positions.

Swisher vehemently defended the conference against the notion they “sandbagged” Yaccarino or did not give her an adequate heads up that Roth would be interviewed before her:

1. She and her PR person knew all day and were also offered to go on before @yoyoel too. Their choice as they wanted the last word, I guess. I also sent a text to her and everyone involved early this morning. No one was sandbagged. Yoel was asked a week ago btw. Do you think I prepped a detailed interview in a hour, @danprimack?

In her lengthy thread, Swisher also went on to blast Primack for suggesting Yaccarino needs to be handled delicately or that CEOs deserve some kind of deference from journalists.

“Great CEOs relish a tough interview rather than a tongue bath,” she wrote. “How is it that we had Steve Jobs, not exactly a shrinking violet, there a half dozen times. Elon came at least the same number of times. We never promised anything or gave them any heads up. We’re journalists FFS.”

Swisher also hit back at Musk twice for his “foaming at the mouth” attack. “He’s 52 years old,” she wrote soon after he tweeted it and later added, “Projection much? Also, if I do say so, I look pretty good here with this guy. Pod of my interview at Code yesterday with @yoyoel, aka CEO rattler, will be dropping soon here.”

While Roth was interviewed by Swisher ahead of Yaccarino’s appearance he was asked if he had any advice for Yaccarino who is now working to make the company a safe space for advertisers.

“Look at what your boss did to me. It happened to me. It happened after he sung my praises publicly,” Roth replied, referring to Musk attacking him and accusing him of being pro-pedophile after Roth left Twitter. Roth subsequently has been in hiding and his family forced from their home due to threats and harassment.

Yaccarino’s appearance at the event was so bad at one point the room burst out laughing as she suggested working alongside Musk was productive. Below are some of the tweets detailing Yaccarino’s interview at Code:

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