Did Elon Musk drive ‘Sully’ Sullenberger from Twitter?

Fans of retired US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, famed for his “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency plane landing in New York, expressed a mix of support, disappointment and other reactions following his news Thursday that was “taking a step back” from Twitter.

Sullenberger didn’t say why he will no longer post news about himself or commentary on Twitter. That didn’t stop many from assuming that the hero pilot, known for taking principled stands on U.S. politics, aviation safety and other issues, was moving away from Twitter because he disagrees with how new owner Elon Musk is running the social media company.

“To my friends on Twitter, I will be taking a step back from the platform for now,” tweeted Sullenberger, who has 131,000 followers. “Connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram to stay informed and hear my latest personal and professional updates.”

In the replies to Sullenberger’s tweet, people offered variations on “right behind you” and “good for you.” Others asked if the move was due to “the turmoil” over Musk’s takeover, or they expressed hope it wasn’t motivated by “something serious.” They also said, “We will miss you a lot,” while others urged Sullenberger to stay on Twitter, saying his “voice will be missed.”

The platform’s “bird app” moniker and Sullenberger’s 2009 landing of a jetliner on the Hudson River, after it hit a flock of geese, prompted a few jokes about a bird strikes and hopes “for a safe landing on Facebook.” Someone also wrote, “Of all people, you know when it’s time to get out of a bad situation.”

With Sullenberger’s announcement, he becomes the latest celebrity to say they are leaving Twitter following Musk’s $44 billion takeover last month. As Vulture reported, others making similar announcements include Whoopi Goldberg, who announced this week she’s “done,” Shonda Rimes who said “bye,” and Gigi Hadid, who called the site a “cesspool.”

Musk has faced tremendous scrutiny and pushback for decisions he’s made since acquiring Twitter, the New York Times said. Last week, the world’s richest man cut roughly 3,700 of the company’s 7,500 employees, saying he had no choice because Twitter was losing $4 million a day. In a possible sign of chaos at the company, the billionaire also sparred with horror author Stephen King for wanting to charge users to authenticate their accounts with blue check marks, and had comedian Kathy Griffin permanently suspended for humorously impersonating him on the platform.

Musk furthermore is under fire and potentially losing advertisers for his proposals to loosen content rules. Concerns have grown that controversial figures like former President Donald Trump will be allowed to return to the platform, as it becomes less vigilant about catching inflammatory posts or limiting misinformation about voting and election results, the New York Times said.

Researchers at the Fletcher School at Tufts University issued a report Monday, saying that the early signs of Twitter under Musk’s leadership show the platform heading “in the wrong direction,” the New York Times reported. The researchers monitored posts about civil war, election fraud, citizen policing of voting, and allegations of pedophilia and grooming on Twitter from July through October.

“Post-Musk takeover, the quality of the conversation has decayed” as more extremists and misinformation peddlers have tested the platform’s boundaries, the researchers wrote, according to the Times.

While Sullenberger didn’t say anything about extremism or misinformation on Twitter, it’s not likely he would welcome Trump’s return to the platform.

During the 2020 election, Sullenberger let his followers know that he fiercely opposed Trump’s re-election to the presidency. In an ad, produced by the Lincoln Project and VoteVets.org, Sullenberger said Americans needed to vote Trump out of office to “overcome his attacks on our very democracy.” He also referred to people who had died during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying they had been “casualties of his lethal lies and incompetence.”