Elon Musk Uses a Crude Insult to Slam Advertisers for Pulling Back From X.

 

Elon Musk Uses a Crude Insult to Slam Advertisers for Pulling Back From X.

 

Although Mr. Musk acknowledged that an extended boycott could bankrupt X, he suggested that the public would blame the brands rather than him for its collapse.

 

By Kate Conger and Remy Tumin

Nov. 29, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/business/dealbook/elon-musk-advertisers-blackmail-iger.html

 

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TRANSCRIPT

The chief technology officer of X used foul language to slam brands that had pulled their advertising after his post on the social media platform.

Just tell me what happened. You write this tweet that says that this is the actual truth. People read that tweet — “Yes.” — and they say, ”Elon Musk is an antisemite.“ That he is riling up this base. You’re hearing it from, as I said, the White House. You’re hearing it from Jewish groups all over. And I’m an American Jew. It wasn’t just the people who had that view. It was actually people who really are antisemites who said, ”Oh, my goodness — go, go, Elon, this is fabulous.“ And that actually was the thing that really, really set me back. And I said to myself, ”What’s going on here?“ And I want to know how you felt about that in that moment when you saw all of this happening. Yeah, well, first of all, I did clarify almost immediately what I meant. I would say that was, you know, if I could go back and say I should in retrospect, not have replied to that particular person and I should have written in greater length as to what I meant. I did subsequently clarify it in replies, but those clarifications were ignored by the media. And essentially I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and arguably to those who are antisemitic too. And for that, I’m quite sorry — that is not, that was not my intention. But there’s a public perception that was part of a apology tour, if you will, that this had been said online. There was all of the criticism. There was advertisers leaving. We talked to Bob Iger. I hope they stop. ”You hope —“ Don’t advertise. ”You don’t want them to advertise?“ No. ”What do you mean?“ If someone’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money. Go [expletive] yourself.

 

Elon Musk hit out at brands that have pulled their advertising from X after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory on the social media platform.

 

Mr. Musk apologized for the post at the DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday, but said that the advertisers were attempting to “blackmail” him. His message for those brands was simple: “Don’t advertise” and used an expletive multiple times to emphasize his point.

 

About 200 big advertisers, including Disney, Apple and IBM, stopped spending on X after Mr. Musk agreed with a post that accused Jewish communities of pushing “hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” If the freeze continues, it could end up costing the company up to $75 million this quarter, according to internal documents seen by The New York Times.

 

Although Mr. Musk acknowledged that an extended boycott could bankrupt X, he suggested that the public would blame the brands rather than him for its collapse.

 

Mr. Musk singled out Bob Iger, the Disney chief executive, who told the event earlier that “the association with that position, and Elon Musk, and X was not necessarily a positive one for us.”

 

Mr. Musk said that, in retrospect, he should not have replied to that particular post and “should have written in greater length what I meant.”

 

He added, “I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and to those who are antisemitic and for that I am quite sorry.”

 

Investment banks sitting on billions in debt that helped enable his acquisition of the company last year will probably not be happy about Mr. Musk’s aggressive stance. Advertising accounts for most of X’s revenue and Mr. Musk hired an industry veteran, Linda Yaccarino, to help mend ties with big brands. Ms. Yaccarino was in the audience when he made his comments.

 

Lauren Hirsch contributed reporting.

 

Kate Conger is a technology reporter based in San Francisco. She can be reached at kate.conger@nytimes.com. More about Kate Conger

 

Remy Tumin is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics. More about Remy Tumin