Elon Musk, during a New York Times DealBook Summit interview, cursed out advertiser Disney, as well as others, for suspending their advertisements after the billionaire reposted an antisemitic post on his social media platform 'X.' "Go f*ck yourself" says the X owner, as reported by Reuters.
(Photo : Toby Melville - Pool/Getty Images)
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and X, attends the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park on November 1, 2023, in Bletchley, England.
Engadget reports that Musk repeated the sentiment several times, as well as stating not to place any ads on the site. Musk reportedly said that blackmailing was afoot, noting that "if somebody is going to try and blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*ck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is."
"Hey Bob," Musk said, seemingly addressing Disney CEO Bob Iger, who had spoken earlier in the day at the same event on the company's decision to remove commercials after Musk's tweet from earlier this month.
Disney's relationship with X, according to Iger, is "not necessarily a positive one for us," as reported by Engadget, citing Variety as their source.
Read Also: Elon Musk is set to Meet Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, to Discuss Combatting Antisemitism
Elon Musk's Antisemitic Post
After siding with a user on November 15 who incorrectly claimed that Jews were inciting hatred against White people, Musk has been the target of a barrage of criticism. Referencing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory, Musk said in his post that the user was expressing "the actual truth."
The White House denounced Musk's article, calling it a "abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate."
Musk acknowledged his mistake in responding to the tweet that caused X to lose more sponsors, even though he refuted accusations of antisemitism once more. Musk further stated that he had "handed a loaded gun" to his critics, calling the post that he published that day arguably the worst in his history of "foolish" statements.
This reportedly came about as a result of a report published by the leftist watchdog group Media Matters, which claimed to have discovered advertisements close to posts endorsing Nazism. The platform sued Media Matters last week on grounds of defamation.
Reuters reports that Musk made his remarks the same day that the U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a dire warning, claiming that the safety of Jews worldwide as well as the future of Israel are in jeopardy due to the surge in antisemitism that has occurred since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict, during a tearful 40-minute Senate speech.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino was reportedly there for the comments and that she sat "stone-faced" during Musk's outburst.
X's Projected Losses
Tech Times reports that according to the the New York Times, worries about Musk and the platform go far beyond Disney, Apple, and IBM, who stopped running advertisements on X recently as about 200 companies have been reported to have "fully paused" their advertising, while several others are categorized as "at risk."
This has poised the social media platform to lose about $75 Million by the end of the year, but the expected loss has been denied by X, stating that it has gone down since.
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