It was a lot of curses from Elon Musk addressed towards advertisers who left his social media platform X over antisemitic content.
Elon Musk at one of Tesla events. Image credit: Steve Jurvetson via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 DEED license
Billionaire Elon Musk, in a fiery interview on Wednesday, responded to advertisers who had left his social media platform X over antisemitic content, telling them to “Go f*** yourself.”
Musk’s profanity-laced remarks followed a moment of contrition during a New York Times DealBook Summit interview, where he repeatedly apologized for publishing a tweet on Nov. 15 that agreed with an anti-Jewish post.
The tweet, in which Musk endorsed a user’s false claim about Jewish people, has sparked widespread criticism. Musk acknowledged that the post was possibly the worst he had made during a history of messages that included many “foolish” ones.
The controversy has put pressure on X platform overall, including Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino, who confirmed she would remain at the company in a post on Wednesday.
The Tesla CEO was very openly not content with the idea that he was considered 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 f*** yourself,” Elon Musk said.
Tesla Gigafactory in Berlin. Image credit: Stephan Lechner via Flickr, CC BY 2.0
The CEO of Tesla strongly rejected the notion that he was arrogant and expressed that advertisers who departed from X, previously known as Twitter, should not believe they could manipulate him.
Musk’s explicit comments directed at advertisers mark the “final chapter” for brands engaged with X, according to experts, who believe advertisers are not going to forget that incident.
Written by Alius Noreika