Mnuchin spars with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose on Twitter

Rose has recently tweeted about the importance of lockdowns to contain the coronavirus, and a subsequent retort to Mnuchin’s question suggested this might have been one of his issues with the Treasury chief. — AP

Axl Rose, the lead singer of US rock band Guns N’ Roses, and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have engaged in an escalating social-media exchange that’s gone viral.

With no context to explain the insult, the singer initiated the back-and-forth by using a vulgar epithet to describe Mnuchin in a post on his verified Twitter account. Mnuchin, who has played a key role in assembling the US economic response to the coronavirus, then commented by asking what Rose had done to help the US.