'Morning Joe' host says Twitter would become 'sewer' if Elon Musk took over

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said that Twitter would become a "sewer" if tech billionaire Elon Musk took over.

Scarborough also bashed Musk for allegedly spreading misinformation about his wife and co-host, Mika Brzezinski.

Last week, Brzezinski had wondered aloud amid a broadcast whether or not some "guardrails" could be set up to prevent the Tesla and SpaceX CEO from completing a hostile takeover of Twitter.

People on social media ended up sharing a 2017 video clip of the Morning Joe co-host speaking about former President Donald Trump's efforts to undermine the media's credibility to allow his baseless claims to thrive.

"Well, and I think that the dangerous, y'know, edges here are that he's trying to undermine the media, trying to make up his own facts," Brzezinski said.

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She added, in part: "He could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that is our job."

Brzezinski later clarified these on-air comments and said that she meant that it was the media's job to prevent Trump from creating his own facts. But people on Twitter reshared the clip and made the false claim that she was talking about Musk - who approvingly shared one of the posts at the time.

"I just told Mika, [on] Twitter, when people are lying, I say, just never mind, just let it go," Scarborough said on Wednesday's (April 20) Morning Joe segment.

He continued: "But then we find out that it was so widespread, the lying, that they took this video from five years ago that was taken out of context five years ago even, but it was trending. Then we find out the Associated Press has done a fact check on it because Elon Musk joins in, which tells you what a sewer Twitter would be if he ran it."

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Earlier this month, Musk, who is currently the richest man in the world, became the majority shareholder of Twitter after buying 9.2 per cent of the company's stake.

And on Sunday (April 10), people believed that a statement fromTwitter's chief executive Parag Agrawal could be a sign that the billionaire might be looking to buy the whole platform.

Agrawal took to his Twitter to note that Musk was no longer joining the board, although he was offered a seat.

"I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not," Agrawal wrote in a message sent to Twitter staff.

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