Dave Chappelle asked the crowd at his comedy show to “make some noise for the world’s richest man”.
They did — lots of booing.
It was a rather uncomfortable appearance for Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, at Chappelle’s show with Chris Rock on Sunday night in San Francisco.
At the end of the show, Chappelle spoke about the need to get along and communicate with people with different viewpoints and perspectives.
He invited Mr Musk onstage. The billionaire obliged, wearing an “I Love Twitter” T-shirt. Loud boos filled the arena for several minutes, along with some cheers, too.
Chappelle joked: “Sounds like some of those people you fired.”
As the boos continued to ring out, the comic pointed out: “All you people booing, and I’m just pointing out the obvious — are in terrible seats.”
Twitter has gone through massive changes since Mr Musk took over the social media platform, with the first few weeks of his tenure seeing widespread layoffs and the restoration of several blocked accounts, including those of former president Donald Trump and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Chappelle asked the crowd not to boo Mr Musk as he needs him to open up the first comedy club on Mars. He also asked Mr Musk if he could help Black Star’s Talib Kweli, who Chappelle said had been banned from Twitter.
Mr Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, responded by saying: “Twitter customer service here.”
He stayed onstage and shook hands with many of the performers. Visitors had been required to lock up their phones during the show, but a few videos of the encounter made their way online.
Mr Musk did not comment directly about the events of the evening, but at about 4.25am San Francisco time, he tweeted a message condemning the “woke mind virus”.
Anti-"wokeism” is a conservative backlash to progressive political discourse that seeks to highlight racial and other modern and historical prejudices.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Elon Musk — in pictures
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Elon Musk arrives at the Baron Investment Conference at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, on November 4. AP -
Mr Musk in Manhattan, New York City, on November 4. Reuters -
Mr Musk appears online at the B20 Summit as part of the G20 dialogue in Nusa Dua, Bali, on November 14. AFP -
After months of negotiations, Mr Musk finally bought Twitter on October 27. AFP -
The billionaire took control of microblogging platform and fired its top executives, including chief executive Parag Agrawal, left, as well as the company's chief financial officer and its head of legal policy, trust and safety. AFP -
Mr Musk entering Twitter headquarters carrying a sink through the lobby area on October 26. AP -
Mr Musk and his children Damian, Kai, Saxon and Griffin met Pope Francis in July at the Vatican. AFP -
Mr Musk speaks by video in June to the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. Bloomberg -
Mr Musk answers questions at the Qatar Economic Forum. Bloomberg -
Mr Musk arrives at the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in May. Reuters -
Mr Musk and his mother Maye Musk arrive at the Met Gala in May. AFP -
Mother and son pose and laugh on the Met Gala red carpet. EPA -
Mr Musk waves at the Met Gala. Reuters -
Mr Musk joins in online at the 'Financial Times' Future of the Car Summit in May. Financial Times -
Mr Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, in March. Reuters -
Mr Musk at the Tesla factory in Berlin, Germany, in March. AP -
Mr Musk speaks at SpaceX's Starbase centre in South Texas in February. AFP -
The entrepreneur shakes hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Porto Feliz, Brazil, in May. AP -
Mr Bolsonaro and Mr Musk greet each other in Sao Paulo. Reuters -
Indonesian President Joko Widodo meets Mr Musk at the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, in May. Reuters -
Mr Musk shows Mr Widodo his mobile phone during a tour of the SpaceX launch site in Texas. Reuters
