Tycoon Steve Kirsch, who offered mask-wearing passenger $100Gs, called 'creep'
"She took off her mask as soon as the breakfast was served!" he tweeted.
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Tech tycoon Steve Kirsch is feeling the flames on social media after posting that he offered a woman a $100,000 payout if she would remove her mask on their flight.
His March 10 tweet says he offered the money to his first-class Delta flight seatmate “after I explained they [masks] don’t work.”
Kirsch, whose net worth was reported at $230 million in 2007, followed up his initial tweet with further explanation, saying he opened the bidding at $100.
“And I pointed out that when she removed the mask for eating and drinking, she could be infected with one breath. So she had full disclosure,” he continued.
“She took off her mask as soon as the breakfast was served!!!! Because everyone knows you can’t get infected while you are eating!!”
He concluded: “Maybe next time I’ll sit next to someone who had an account at Silicon Valley Bank.”
Kirsch’s tweets yielded plenty of response, with some slamming him as “a creep” and an “arrogant fool.”
“Has it occurred to you that she or someone close to her is immunocompromised? Or were you too busy trying to make whatever dumb point you’re trying to make,” one person replied.
“There are cheaper ways to let people know you’re a tool,” wrote another.
Others commented on how they doubted any such conversation or offer of money ever took place:
“Imagine pretending you have $100,000 cash-in-hand, and using that alleged money to try to embarrass a masked woman who also likely does not exist.”
Several commented on Kirsch’s tweet that they would happily have taken the money, even if they did get COVID.
Others said they wouldn’t have had a mask on in the first place, as one person commented, “Throughout the pandemic, I fought not to wear it.”
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A Silicon Valley veteran, Kirsch is credited with creating one of the first versions of the optical mouse as well as a search engine Infoseek, according to the New York Post.
He was involved in funding research for COVID treatments in 2020, but later became a skeptic about masks and vaccines and was then accused of spreading misinformation online.
Kirsch began a company that markets blockchains for banks, but was asked by the board to step down because of his controversial statements on COVID vaccines.
He founded the anti-vaxx group Vaccine Safety Research Foundation.
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