A 19-year-old Florida university student and aviation enthusiast says he rejected a $5,000 offer from Elon Musk to shut down @ElonJet, a Twitter bot he designed that tracks the comings and goings of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's private jet.
In an interview Monday, Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida freshman, reported that Musk blocked him after he declined the buyout offer — but not before the two had a month-and-a-half-long dialogue.
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment made through Tesla.
He first reached out to Sweeney on Nov. 30, according to screenshots of Twitter messages reviewed by NBC News, and Musk asked him for details about how the bot worked, remarked that air traffic control is "primitive" and said, "I don't love the idea of being shot by a nutcase."
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.