Elon Musk says Microsoft gaming division’s hiring practices are illegal

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk publicly slammed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for its alleged hiring practices. Musk’s reaction came after a report alleging Microsoft’s gaming division had excluded white candidates.

The controversy began when a post on X alleged the Microsoft gaming division was putting ​unqualified ​queer and black people ahead of white people on the hiring list. The post also claimed this was in line with a directive to get ‘crusty old white dudes’ out of the gaming industry.

It seemed to be in response to a post retweeted by Josh Sawyer, a director of the Fallout video game. In the post, the Black artists were encouraged to participate more, saying there were “too many crusty white dudes”. It also asked Black artists to connect for job advice or portfolio reviews.

Um, @satyanadella, this is illegal … https://t.co/54GC5VW5ZJ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2024

In his response, Musk directly responded to Nadella by saying that the company undertakes illegal practices. His post drew widespread comment, as he tagged Nadella in it.

Though unverified, the company has yet to give a formal response. The company has a long history of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with several programs in place to encourage an inclusive workplace. Nadella himself has been a big diversity advocate in tech, expressing how the industry needs such a thing in his public speeches.

Musk has a history of taking shots against Microsoft

It’s not the first time Musk has taken a shot at Microsoft. Earlier this year, Nadella was criticized him over a global IT outage caused by a software update that knocked out 365 and Windows Azure cloud services. Musk joked about how severely the outage affected industries like automotive supply chains and mocked the situation on social media.

In other instances, too, Musk has also taken barbs at Microsoft. This includes posting memes and making jokes about the name of the company. He has also criticized the way the Windows PC setup process requires a Microsoft account. He even publicly called for an option to bypass account creation altogether.