Twitter CEO Elon Musk slammed people who work from home in an interview this week and declared the practice was “morally wrong,” despite the fact that, as head of three companies, it is virtually impossible for him to be in three offices at once. He’s the quintessential remote CEO. Although Musk’s comments dominated headlines, they are nothing new.

The billionaire spent the majority of 2022 railing against remote work and insinuating that people who worked at home didn’t work hard. Musk proceeded to turn his words into law at Tesla and SpaceX, which he led at the time, and then later on at Twitter after he officially bought the company in October. In the case of Twitter, Musk threw out the policy enacted by its previous management, which allowed employees to work from home forever.

Yet, Musk’s stance on remote work stands in stark contrast with his behavior. He’s said that those who want to work from home should “pretend to work somewhere else,” but is hardly one to show up at the offices of the companies he runs every day. Instead, you might find him rubbing shoulders with Jared Kushner at the Qatar World Cup or watching the Super Bowl in Rupert Murdoch’s private box.

Click through to read more of Musk’s comments on remote work and decide for yourself whether this is a topic he should be commenting on at all.

In May 2022, Musk touched on the subject of remote work when asked on Twitter if he thought the U.S. was approaching a recession. He answered the question, insinuating that certain companies and remote workers needed a wake up call.

“[A]ll the Covid stay-at-home stuff has tricked people into thinking that you don’t actually need to work hard. Rude awakening inbound!” Musk said.

Musk ordered Tesla employees to come back to the office in June 2022 after allowing remote work for all positions whenever it was possible. The Tesla chief communicated the change in policy, which was reported by Electrek, in a series of emails.

“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla. This is less than we ask of factory workers,” Musk wrote. “If there are particularly exceptional contributors for whom this is impossible, I will review and approve those exceptions directly.”

Musk added that by “office,” he meant workers had to be in the main Tesla office where they performed their duties, not a remote branch office.

As Tesla workers soon found out, Musk wasn’t kidding about ending remote work. In a follow-up email, titled “To be super clear,” Musk said that workers who didn’t show up would be fired.

“If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned,” Musk stated. “There are of course companies that don’t require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product? It’s been a while. Tesla has and will create and actually manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth. This will not happen by phoning it in.”

According to the New York Times, Musk sent nearly the enact same directive to SpaceX employees, ordering them back to the office as well.

Shortly after closing his acquisition of Twitter, Musk emailed the staff and told them that they would be required to be in the company’s offices 40 hours per week. He added that he would only approve remote work on a case-by-case basis.

“Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable,” Musk said.

Musk addressed remote work in his first meeting with Twitter staff shortly after the acquisition. At the meeting, he said remote work was the exception, not the rule.

“Now, if somebody’s contribution is so significant that they can overcome the communication difficulties of being remote, then they should absolutely remain at Twitter. But it will be a higher bar. They have to be that much better to overcome the communication issues of being remote. There are plenty of people at Tesla and SpaceX that do work remotely, but it is on an exception basis for exceptional people,” Musk said at the meeting, according to reporting by the Verge.

Once again, the Twitter CEO said that people who did not want to work in the office should leave. “Basically, if you can show up in an office and you do not show up at the office, resignation accepted. End of story,” Musk said.

After railing against remote work and making workers sign a pledge to work at his new “hardcore” Twitter, Musk softened his stance on working outside of the office. Kind of.

Basically, he said remote work would be allowed if a manager approved it, but stated employees had to continue to perform excellent work. Anything less would get their manager the boot.

“At risk of stating the obvious, any manager who falsely claims that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be exited from the company,” Musk said.

Most recently, Musk decided to give his two cents on remote work once more in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber at one of Tesla’s factories. Musk referenced the workers in the factory when speaking with Faber and said if some people had to go to an office or factory, everyone should have to go.

“The laptop class is living in la la land. Look at the cars,” he said. “Are people working from home here? Of course not. The people [that are] building the cars, servicing the cars, building houses, fixing houses, or making the food, making all the things that people consume—it’s messed up to assume that they have to go to work but you don’t. [Why] is that? It’s not just a productivity thing. I think it’s morally wrong.”