Billionaire Elon Musk in an interview lost his cool after he was questioned about the exit of advertisers from X (formerly Twitter). In a harsh response he told advertisers who had pulled out over anti-semitic content, "Go F*** yourself". The advertisers had left the platform following a post by Elon Musk on November 15, in which he agreed with an anti-Jewish post.
Musk was faced with wide spread criticism after he endorsed an anti-Jeweshi post in which a user accused Jewish people of inciting hatred against white people. Musk had defended the post by claiming the user spoke "the actual truth" regarding the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory.
Also Read: X may lose up to $75 million in revenue as more advertisers exit
In the interview with the New York Times DealBook Summit, Musk admitted to having "handed a loaded gun" to both critics and antisemitic individuals, acknowledging that his post might be among the worst in his history of making many "foolish" statements.
He further clarified that he is not anti-semetic and that the advertisers should not try to blackmail him. "If somebody's gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go F*** yourself," he stated.
He further went on to attack Disney CEO Robert Iger after the streaming platform withdrew advertisements from X. “Is that clear? I hope so. Hey, Bob, if you're in the audience," Musk said. Bob here seemingly refer to Robert Iger.
He goes on to say that he believes in the reality of goodness and not the perception of it.
"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**k them," Musk said.
These profanity-laced remarks have now further angered the advertisers. Reuters quoted Lou Paskalis, founder of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory and said that Musk's expletives against advertisers is the "closing chapter" for brands doing business with X.
Elon Musk's comments came on the same day that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that the rise in anti-semitism 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.