That rescue worker temporarily had a platform high enough to speak with Musk's typical level of reach and attempted to use it to pull back the curtain and revea

That rescue worker temporarily had a platform high enough to speak with Musk's typical level of reach and attempted to use it to pull back the curtain and reveal Musk's publicity hound ways. This is an existential threat to Musk's operation and he reacted rashly and extremely aggressively slinging the nastiest mud which might stick. That type of reputational damage is extremely difficult to recover from. It also drew the public's eye away from the the "Elon the publicity hound" story to "Elon possible defamation" which is a much less serious problem.