Technology
Elon Musk curses out advertisers who left X over
antisemitic content
By Sheila
Dang
November
30, 20232:36 AM GMT+1Updated 5 hours ago
Nov 29
(Reuters) - (Please note strong language in paragraphs 1, 6-8)
Billionaire
Elon Musk told advertisers that have fled his social media platform X over
antisemitic content to "Go fuck yourself" in a fiery Wednesday
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 on Nov. 15 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."
On
Wednesday 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
(TSLA.O) 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 fuck yourself," he said.
"Go.
Fuck. 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 (DIS.N), 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". A spokesperson from Disney did
not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"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.
Fuck them," Musk said.
Musk's
expletives against advertisers is the "closing chapter" for brands
doing business with X, said Lou Paskalis, founder of marketing consultancy AJL
Advisory and the former head of global media at Bank of America. "They're
not going to forget that," he said.
Customers
who did not like him should consider the products his company make based on
their quality, Musk said, pointing to electric cars from Tesla and SpaceX
rockets. "I will certainly not pander," he said.
Musk added
that he himself arguably had done more for the environment, at Tesla, than
anyone in the world, based on Tesla's massive sales of electric vehicles.
"It
would be fair to say, therefore, as a leader of the company, I've done more for
the environment than everyone -- any single human on Earth."
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. "To us, the Jewish people, the rise in
antisemitism is a crisis. A five-alarm fire that must be extinguished,"
Schumer said in an emotional, 40-minute Senate speech.
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 falsely 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 U.S. companies including Walt Disney (DIS.N), Warner Bros
Discovery (WBD.O) and NBCUniversal parent Comcast (CMCSA.O) 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 last week against Media Matters for defamation.
Musk's
comments have put pressure on X overall, including Chief Executive Linda
Yaccarino. An executive told Reuters that she would remain at the company.
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 toured the
site of Hamas' assault in the country on Oct. 7. On Monday, he spoke with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a live-streamed conversation on X.
Musk on
Wednesday 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. While
there, he received a symbolic dog-tag from the father of an Israeli hostage
taken captive by Hamas, which he promised to wear until all the hostages were
free. He wore the dog-tag on stage on Wednesday.
"The
fact that you came here speaks volumes of your commitment to try to secure a
better future," Netanyahu told Musk during the conversation in Israel.
Musk's
wide-ranging interview on Wednesday included discussions from freedom of speech
to the environment to U.S. presidential politics. Musk said he thought he would
not vote to re-elect President Joe Biden but did not say he would vote for his
likely challenger, Donald Trump.
Reporting
by Sheila Dang in Dallas; Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Writing by Peter
Henderson; Editing by David Gaffen and Lisa Shumaker
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