Elon Musk Fires Back at CNN Over Ventilator Story, Says What's 'Most Surprising Is that CNN Still Exists'
Entrepreneur Elon Musk rocked the Twittersphere on Thursday responding to a CNN report that suggested he had not made good on his pledge to provide more than 1,000 ventilators to California hospitals.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO shared verification that he had fulfilled his commitment last month, throwing mockery into the mix by tweeting at one point, “What I find most surprising is that CNN still exists.”
Last month, Musk offered to donate more than 1,000 ventilators to California hospitals.
In late March, multiple news services carried a comment from California Gov. Gavin Newsom concerning that promise.
“Elon Musk: how about this? I told you a few days ago that he was likely to have 1,000 ventilators this week,” Newsom said during his March 23 media briefing. “They arrived in Los Angeles and Elon Musk is already working with the hospital association and others to get those ventilators out in real time. It’s an heroic effort.”
But CNN fired this shot at Musk on Thursday.
“Three weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had obtained more than 1,000 ventilators to help California hospitals treating patients infected with the coronavirus, the governor’s office says none of the promised ventilators have been received by hospitals,” CNN tweeted.
Three weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had obtained more than 1,000 ventilators to help California hospitals treating patients infected with the coronavirus, the governor’s office says none of the promised ventilators have been received by hospitals https://t.co/u3NNpxbvsN
— CNN (@CNN) April 16, 2020
Musk had a response at the ready.
“What I find most surprising is that CNN still exists,” Musk tweeted, posting documentation to prove he made good on his promise.
What I find most surprising is that CNN still exists
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
These were based on direct requests from their ICU wards, with exact specifications of each unit provided before shipment
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
CNN executive Matt Dornic then suggested Musk should be angry at Newsom’s office, not CNN, which he suggested had done nothing wrong.
“Weird to attack CNN for what the CA governor’s office said – especially when your own spokespeople at Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment,” Dornic, CNN’s head of strategic communications, wrote. “Seems like your outrage should, uh, be directed at the entity that made the claim, not the one that reported it. U new to this?”
Weird to attack CNN for what the CA governor’s office said – especially when your own spokespeople at Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment. Seems like your outrage should, uh, be directed at the entity that made the claim, not the one that reported it. U new to this?
— Matt Dornic (@mdornic) April 16, 2020
“Perhaps you are unaware that Twitter has a search function?” Musk replied. “The hospitals *themselves* acknowledged receipt of ventilators.”
The entrepeneur tweeted additional evidence showing that the ventilators had been received by hospitals:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
https://t.co/OP6l8DBf7r https://t.co/hHLSZNUSMd
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2020
Musk has also called upon Newsom’s office to clear up the misunderstanding.
In its Wednesday story, CNN had reported, that “Elon Musk and his team told the state that he had procured ventilators and wanted to distribute them directly to hospitals with shortages,” quoting a spokesperson for the California governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
“The Administration is communicating every day with hospitals across the state about their ventilator supply and to date we have not heard of any hospital system that has received a ventilator directly from Tesla or Musk,” the spokesperson added.
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