Billionaire Elon Musk told advertisers that have fled his social media platform over antisemitic content to ‘Go f*** yourself’ in a fiery interview last night.
Mr Musk dropped the f-bomb three separate times in quick succession while blasting those who had left X, formerly Twitter, with an apparent dig directed at Disney.
Warning: explicit content below
He made the profanity-laced remarks at New York Times DealBook Summit after appearing momentarily apologetic for agreeing with an anti-Jewish post.
Replying to a post from a user who falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people, Mr Musk said: ‘You have said the actual truth.’
Speaking last night, Mr 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.
However, the contrition was short-lived as he bristled at the suggestion he was antisemitic, and said advertisers should not think they could blackmail him.
‘If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself,’ he said.
‘Go. F***. 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, which pulled ads on X and spoke earlier in the evening.
‘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*** them.’
It has been a turbulent year for the social media platform, hastily rebranded as X in August.
Advertising revenues have seen a significant drop, declining at least 55% year-on-year each month, according to data seen by Reuters.
Mr Musk, however, has repeatedly blamed external factors. In September, he accused the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of being the main cause behind a 60% drop in revenue. He threatened to sue the organisation, but has not yet filed a lawsuit.
He is also suing Media Matters, which earlier this month revealed evidence suggesting X had paid advertising revenue to a user running a pro-Hitler and Holocaust denier account.
However, following the allegations and his ‘truth’ post, Mr Musk pledged to donate all X profits associated with the war in Gaza to Israeli hospitals and aid efforts in the region.
X is also currently under investigation by the European Commissioner for spreading both ‘terrorsist and violent content’ and disinformation.
Mr 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.
The mess is another one left for X CEO Linda Yaccarino for clean up.
In an X post late on Wednesday, she said that Musk had offered an apology and ‘an explicit point of view about our position’.
‘Today @elonmusk gave a wide ranging and candid interview at @dealbook 2023,’ she wrote. ‘He also offered an apology, an explanation and an explicit point of view about our position. X is enabling an information independence that’s uncomfortable for some people. We’re a platform that allows people to make their own decisions.
‘Here’s my perspective when it comes to advertising: X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street – and the X community is powerful and is here to welcome you. To our partners who believe in our meaningful work – Thank You.’
Ms Yaccarino took up the role over the summer after Mr Musk ran a poll on X asking whether he should stand down.
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