[akhmatova]

Turns out the guy in question was in fact a jackass (based on this clip).

I didn't read it that way.

But the far bigger point is that Musk was even more uncivil and obnoxious in his response to that situation.

That was no less than an outright personal attack. As an attempt to wiggle out of a perfectly valid line of questioning (aside from the "fucking mike" part) that he apparently has no intelligent answer for. Unfortunately the clip cuts conspicuously short after that point, so we can't know for sure. But that does seem to be the long and short of this exchange.