A tech tycoon has received backlash online after he allegedly offered a passenger on the flight he was on $100,000 to remove her mask. Masks seem to still be a divisive topic after the Covid-19 pandemic where it was mandatory to wear them in public spaces such as planes. Nowadays wearing a mask is more of a personal choice, with some opting to remain wearing them not only due to Covid but for other health reasons. Though it would appear that some people still take issue with the sight of a mask, despite other people wearing them having little to no impact on them at all. Steve Kirsch,  a Silicon Valley veteran, took to Twitter where he explained that he took issue with a woman wearing a mask on his flight, and offered her a staggering amount of money to remove it. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/stkirsch/status/1634189428150390785]] The tech tycoon said: "I am on board a Delta flight right now. The person sitting next to me in first class refused $100,000 to remove her mask for the entire flight. No joke. This was after I explained they don’t work. She works for a pharma company." Despite having a look of accomplishment, it would seem that viewers of the tweet did not share Kirsch's sense of achievement as they took to the comments to berate him. "Imagine pretending you have $100,000 cash-in-hand, and using that alleged money to try to embarrass a masked woman who also likely does not exist," one person wrote. A second added: "Stop bugging people who are minding their own business with your creepy nonsense." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/abbythetweet/status/1634318749905072128]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/AlastairMcA30/status/1634253453114351624]] Kirsch decided that despite the backlash, he would double down on his original tweet and update readers on how the interaction with the woman went down. "I started the bidding at $100," the businessman wrote. "I pointed out that when she removed the mask for eating and drinking, she could be infected with one breath. So she had full disclosure. "She took off her mask as soon as the breakfast was served!!!! Because everyone knows you can’t get infected while you are eating!! Maybe next time I’ll sit next to someone who had an account at Silicon Valley Bank," he concluded. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/stkirsch/status/1634329348521041920]] Kirsch made his fortune after being behind one of the first versions of the optical mouse in 1980, before co-founding Frame Technology Corp, which was bought by Adobe in 1995, as per the <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/03/15/tech-tycoon-called-a-creep-for-100k-offer-to-plane-passenger/">New York Post</a>. He sold his search engine Infoseek to Disney in 1999 and his net worth in 2007 was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/technology/03kirsch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> to be around $230 million. The astute businessman is a self-declared"truth-teller" and "critical thinker" as per his Twitter bio, and he has been outspoken about his thoughts on masks and vaccines related to the Covid-19 pandemic. <img class="size-full wp-image-1263200937" src="https://img.vt.co/2023/03/2HK26RC.jpg" alt="" width="6667" height="10000" />[[imagecaption|| Kirsch at an anti-mask and anti-vaccine rally. Credit: Sipa US / Alamy]] Whether Kirsch would have handed the money over to the woman is unknown, but we hope that her mask didn't impact his journey too much. <h6>Featured image credit: Sipa US / Alamy</h6>

Tech tycoon says he offered plane passenger $100k to remove her mask on flight and she refused

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