Elon Musk curses out advertisers leaving X
Billionaire Elon Musk told advertisers that have fled his social media platform X over antisemitic content to “Go (expletive) yourself” in a fiery interview.
His profanity-laced remarks followed a moment of contrition in a New York Times DealBook Summit interview. Musk said repeatedly he was sorry for publishing a tweet that agreed with an anti-Jewish post.
Musk has faced a torrent of criticism ever since he agreed with a user who falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people. Musk in his post said the user, who referenced the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, was speaking “the actual truth.”
Musk said he had “handed a loaded gun” to both detractors and antisemitic people, describing his post as possibly the worst he had made during a history of messages that included many “foolish” ones.
The Tesla CEO bristled at the idea that he was antisemitic and said that advertisers who left X, formerly known as Twitter, should not think they could blackmail him.
“If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go (expletive) yourself,” he said.
“Go. F***. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey, Bob, if you’re in the audience,” he added, in an apparent reference to Robert Iger, chief executive of Walt Disney, which pulled ads on X.
Iger spoke earlier at the event and said that Disney felt the association with X following Musk’s move “was not a positive one for us”.
“What I care about is the reality of goodness, not the perception of it. And what I see all over the place is people who care about looking good while doing evil. F*** them,” Musk said.
Musk’s comments came on the same day that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that the rise in antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has reached a crisis point, saying it threatens the safety of Jews worldwide and the future of Israel.
Musk’s post drew condemnation from the White House for what it called an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.”
The “Great Replacement” theory claims that Jewish people and leftists are engineering the ethnic and cultural replacement of white populations with non-white immigrants that will lead to a “white genocide.”
Following the post, major US companies including Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and NBC Universal parent Comcast suspended their ads on X.
A report from liberal watchdog group Media Matters precipitated the advertiser exit, which said it found ads next to posts that supported Nazism. The platform filed a lawsuit for defamation.
Musk’s comments have put pressure on X overall, including Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino. Musk himself appeared resolved that X could fail financially and blamed advertisers.
“If the company fails because of advertiser boycott, it will fail because of an advertiser boycott. And that will be what bankrupt the company and that’s what everybody on earth will know,” he said. “Let the chips fall where they may.”
In the wake of the condemnation around his post, Musk traveled to Israel and spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a live-streamed conversation on X. Musk said the trip had been planned before his message and was “independent” of the issue.
Musk in Israel said he is against antisemitism and anything that “promotes hate and conflict” and stated that X would not promote hate speech.