'I wasn't crying,' says Musk in return to Twitter barbs

The Tesla CEO is known for his unconventional Twittering, but he might need to watch what he writes

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX founder Elon Musk pauses at a press conference following the first launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 6, 2Show more

Just days after hastily abandoning a short-lived exploration of taking Tesla Inc. private, Elon Musk returned to Twitter to showcase the impulsiveness that has raised the eyebrows of investors and regulators alike lately.

In a series of posts Tuesday, the unpredictable chief executive officer denied that he cried during a New York Times interview earlier this month. Musk then couldn't resist trading barbs with a follower who criticized him for calling a cave explorer in Thailand a paedophile back in July.

Mr Musk was described as crying during a recent interview with the Times in which he described how he'd become overwhelmed by the stress of running electric car company Tesla.

“For the record, my voice cracked once during the NY Times article. That’s it. There were no tears,” he tweeted.

His tweet was responding to a Forbes article shared and written by Amy Nelson, the founder and CEO of workspace company The Riveter. Ms Nelson wrote that she doesn't think she could cry in an interview, given the double standards that men and women face in the business world.

Times Finance Editor David Enrich, meanwhile, said on the social media site that the paper stands by its description of Mr Musk's emotions during the interview.

In his latest foray, Musk steered clear of making any assertions about Tesla, a key distinction from his posts about plans to take Tesla private that are said to be under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the missives served as fresh reminders of Musk’s erratic Twitter tendencies and reinforced concerns about whether he can adhere to the SEC’s rules, now that he’s decided Tesla will stay public and continue to fall under the agency’s oversight.

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