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quarta-feira, 29 de novembro de 2023
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
Video
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
George Santos to face expulsion vote on Thursday, House speaker says
George Santos to face expulsion vote on Thursday,
House speaker says
Mike Johnson says ‘we’re going to allow people to vote
their conscience’ over Republican, fabulist and accused fraudster
Martin
Pengelly and Chris Stein in Washington
Wed 29 Nov
2023 11.07 EST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/29/george-santos-house-congress-resign
The
Republican speaker of the US House, Mike Johnson, said the chamber would vote
on whether to expel George Santos on Thursday, leaving it up to lawmakers to
decide whether the New Yorker should be removed from office for embellishing
his résumé and allegedly breaking federal law.
“What we’ve
said as the leadership team is we’re going to allow people to vote their
conscience,” Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
“I think
it’s the only appropriate thing we can do. We’ve not whipped the vote and we
wouldn’t. I trust that people will make that decision thoughtfully and in good
faith.
“I
personally have real reservations about doing this, I’m concerned about a
precedent that may be set for that. So, everybody’s working through that and
we’ll see how they vote tomorrow.”
On Tuesday,
Santos said he would not resign in order to avoid becoming only the sixth
representative ever expelled from the House.
“If I
resign, I make it easy for this place,” Santos, 35, told reporters. “This place
is run on hypocrisy. I’m done playing a part for the circus. If they want me to
leave Congress, they’re going to have to take that tough vote.”
But that
tough vote was already drawing near.
Earlier,
two Democrats, Robert Garcia of California and Dan Goldman of New York,
initiated proceedings to require an expulsion vote within two legislative days.
Later, two Republicans, Anthony D’Esposito of New York and Michael Guest of
Mississippi, did the same.
“We want to
make sure that happens this week,” Garcia said. “I think whatever it takes to
get that vote this week is what we’re doing. He has no place in Congress.”
The list of
previous expellees includes three men who fought for the Confederacy in the
civil war and two convicted of crimes. The last man forced out, James A
Traficant of Ohio, a congressman with a famous “piled-high pompadour” toupée
who was convicted of fraud, bribery, obstruction of justice and racketeering,
was expelled in 2002.
On
Thursday, a two-thirds majority will be required to add Santos to the list of
shame.
Santos was
elected last year but quickly saw his résumé torn to pieces by investigative
reporting and past actions subjected to legal scrutiny. He admitted
embellishing that résumé – which included bizarre claims about his academic and
professional history – but denied wrongdoing. Among more picaresque episodes,
he denied having been a drag performer in Brazil – a denial now undermined by
reporters including the author of a new biography.
Santos has
pleaded not guilty to 23 federal fraud charges but has not yet stood trial. As
indicated by Johnson on Wednesday, many in Congress, including senior
Democrats, have cited the lack of a conviction when opposing previous attempts
to expel Santos, saying to do so without the verdict of a court would set a
dangerous precedent.
Bob
Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat in the closely divided Senate, is under
indictment for alleged corruption. He denies wrongdoing.
In Santos’s
case, his own party generated a previous attempt to expel him. But it took a
damning House ethics committee report, issued this month and detailing the use
of campaign funds for expenses including Botox treatment and luxury purchases,
to change the political equation.
Johnson
must govern with a narrow and unruly majority. A Santos exit would eat into
that margin but Johnson this week attempted to persuade Santos to quit before
he could be thrown out.
Santos has
said he will not run again but his refusal to quit prompted an unnamed
Republican to tell Axios he thought Santos wanted the “notoriety” of becoming
the sixth person ever forcibly expelled.
If Santos
is removed, his New York district, which covers parts of Long Island and
Queens, will have a special election within 90 days.
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