Elon Musk 'Rehires' 'Recently Fired' Twitter Employees Rahul Ligma And Daniel Johnson, Says Firing Them Was The 'Biggest Mistake'
Elon Musk has welcomed Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson back to Twitter after reports that the two were laid off went viral last month.
Musk made the announcement on Twitter yesterday in a post sharing a photo with the two where he wrote, "Welcoming back Ligma & Johnson!" In a comment, he added, "Important to admit when Iām wrong & firing them was truly one of my biggest mistakes" ā although Ligma and Johnson never really worked there in the first place.
Late last month, the two men stood outside of Twitter HQ with cardboard boxes and pretended to be recently laid-off employees after reports that Musk would make massive layoffs spread online. The two men were not actually Twitter employees, just trolls looking to pull a prank on the media.
When a CNBC reporter approached them for an interview, they claimed their names were "Rahul Ligma" and "Daniel Johnson," a reference to the viral ligma meme. The names made it to the final news report and were quickly lampooned online as people celebrated Ligma and Johnson's successful prank.
Even Musk got in on the fun, tweeting, "Ligma Johnson had it coming š š¦" as the story trended. Now, he's taking the joke a step further by claiming to have hired the two back to Twitter.
We recently reached out to Ligma through Twitter DM to learn more about the backstory of the prank. He told us:
"I work out every morning at the gym that is in the same building as the twitter HQ. Saw a bunch of cameras outside that morning while walking in and thought that it was just kinda crazy that these people are outside waiting desperately for some action to happen. So middle of my workout i thought it would be really funny if i walked out with a box and they fell for it. So I texted a friend and asked him to pull up with a box. he pulled up with two and we just walked out and they fell for it."
Ligma also told us that he "wasn't really surprised" that the media fell for it and that at the time of the interview he was "hoping at least one guy there would get it and they would turn off the cameras."
Since the original story went viral, Ligma has done a little more trolling by posting a video claiming to be a laid-off FTX worker in a tribute to his original viral success.
He also recently posted a photo from inside the Twitter HQ bathroom, presumably shortly before or after taking the photo with Musk. Say what you will, but Rahul Ligma seems to be truly living his best life.