Fact Check: Did Elon Musk fire 2,000 employees at X over joke mocking Charlie Kirk?

WASHINGTON, DC: Conservative icon Charlie Kirk was shot dead on September 10 while he attended a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University. After his death, some people mocked him, and their employers fired them.

Following this, a rumor circulated online claiming that tech billionaire Elon Musk fired 2,000 people at X over a joke mocking Charlie Kirk. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.

Claim: Elon Musk fired 2,000 employees at X over joke mocking Charlie Kirk

Days after Charlie Kirk's tragic death, a rumor circulated online claiming that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who also owns a controlling stake of X (formerly Twitter), had fired 2,000 employees over a joke about the late conservative commentator.

An Instagram post claimed a staffer had joked about Kirk, resulting in the mass firing. The post's caption linked to an article on a blog filled with advertisements that had all the symbols of a junk content farm.

The alleged article read, "CHAOS ATX HEADQUARTERS: ELON MUSK FIRES 2,000 EMPLOYEES AFTER VIRAL JOKE MOCKING CHARLIE KIRK'S DEATH In a move that has sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley and the entire tech world, 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."

"Sources inside the company describe a tense, almost surreal atmosphere that unfolded in the hours after the post went viral. The joke – reportedly made by a mid-level content moderator – was shared in a private Slack channel but quickly leaked onto the platform itself, where screenshots began circulating just hours after Kirk's funeral. The post, described as "cruel" and "deeply disrespectful," mocked Kirk's death during a public event at Utah Valley University," it further read.

False: No evidence to prove there was mass layoff at X

The claims made in the online rumor are false, as there is no credible evidence to support the assertion that Elon Musk fired 2,000 people at X over a joke mocking Charlie Kirk.

Days after Kirk's death, Musk said in a video interview with conservative English figure Tommy Robinson that "the left was celebrating it openly", but there was no proof that he fired 2,000 people, Snopes reported.

The fact-checking outlet ran the text of the article through an AI detector, which confirmed that part of it was likely AI-generated.

Moreover, the story cited a supposed X post by Musk, but Snopes could find no evidence that he had posted.

The alleged post read, "Free speech does NOT mean freedom from consequences. Mocking a man's death – ANY man's death – is not comedy, it's cruelty. X will always stand for truth, not hate."

Furthermore, searches on search engines, such as Google, Google News, DuckDuckGo, and Bing, revealed no such mass layoffs.

People fired for negative reaction to Charlie Kirk's death

Many people lost their jobs for their negative response to Charlie Kirk's death. MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd was fired on September 10 after he suggested that Charlie Kirk's "hate speech" inevitably led to him being shot.

Similarly, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Section Chief Sean Kelly was also fired after an undercover clip went viral showing him laughing about the shooting of Kirk and saying he "kind of deserved it".

Moreover, American and Delta airlines fired pilots and employees after some were allegedly “caught celebrating” Kirk's death.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement, "Pilots who were caught celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk have been immediately grounded and removed from service by @AmericanAir. This behavior is disgusting and they should be fired. Any company responsible for the safety of the traveling public cannot tolerate that behavior."