O’Leary also criticised Musk’s social media platform X, saying he would not pay attention to “anything that Elon Musk puts on that cesspit of his called X.” (Photo: Reuters)
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary recently called Elon Musk an “idiot” during a January interview with an Irish radio station, triggering a public feud that quickly went viral. The remarks soon escalated into a broader controversy, drawing widespread attention across social media.
A few days earlier, Musk-owned platform X experienced a service disruption, with users reporting issues such as posts failing to load and timelines freezing. Amid the outage, Irish airline Ryanair took a jab at Musk with a sarcastic post.
The airline’s official X account wrote to Musk, “Perhaps you need Wi-Fi, @elonmusk?”, a remark that initially appeared to be a light-hearted joke but soon escalated into a much larger exchange.
Musk responded publicly with sarcasm, instantly amplifying the attention. “Should I buy Ryanair and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge?” he wrote, turning the airline’s name into a punchline. Within hours, the post went viral, grabbing more than 4.4 million views and sparking a fresh wave of memes, debates, and commentary.
The conflict predates the social media row. It began during an interview on Irish radio station Newstalk, where O’Leary was asked about rumours suggesting Ryanair might use Starlink, Musk’s satellite-based internet service, for in-flight connectivity.
“I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk. He’s an idiot, very wealthy, but still an idiot,” O’Leary said on air.
The comments soon caught Musk’s attention. Responding sharply, Musk shared a post referencing the remarks and wrote, “Ryanair CEO is an utter idiot. Fire him.” The response further intensified the exchange, drawing reactions from both supporters and critics of the billionaire entrepreneur.
O’Leary later explained the financial reasoning behind Ryanair’s decision not to adopt satellite internet. According to him, installing the required aerial antenna on top of each aircraft would cost the airline approximately $200–250 million annually.
“That’s about one extra dollar per passenger,” O’Leary said. “And the reality for us is we can’t afford those costs.”
He added that Ryanair passengers are unwilling to pay for in-flight internet access. “If it’s free, they’ll use it. But they won’t pay one euro each to use the internet. So we’re not putting it on board,” he said.
O’Leary also criticised Musk’s social media platform X, saying he would not pay attention to “anything that Elon Musk puts on that cesspit of his called X.” He added that he has deliberately stayed away from social media platforms altogether.
“No, I would not waste time on it. I don’t have any social media accounts. Thankfully, I am too old to get involved in the cesspit that is social media,” he remarked.
Amid the controversy, a 2017 tweet by Musk resurfaced online. In the post, Musk wrote, “I love Twitter.” When a user suggested that he should buy the platform, Musk casually replied, “How much is it?”
The tweet went on to receive more than 174,000 likes and over 35,000 retweets and quote tweets. Five years later, in March 2022, Musk again floated the idea of starting a new social media company, prompting users to encourage him to buy Twitter instead.
He eventually did just that, acquiring the platform for approximately $44 billion. Today, the platform, now rebranded as X, has once again become the centre of controversy, this time involving Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers.
Also Read: https://www.newsx.com/world/is-that-a-joke-elon-musk-hints-at-buying-ryanair-calls-ceo-an-utter-idiot-amid-starlink-wi-fi-row-149711/
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