Elon Musk has lashed out at advertisers leaving his platform because of rising antisemitism on X.
Musk has faced heavy criticism ever since he agreed with a user who falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people.
Musk in his post said the user, who referenced the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, was speaking “the actual truth.”
His post forced prominent brands to pause their advertising on X, formerly known as Twitter, following Musk’s public embrace of an antisemitic conspiracy theory favored by White supremacists.
The advertising exodus included media companies like Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent of CNN.
On Wednesday 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.
“I mean, look, I’m sorry for that … post,” he said. “It was foolish of me. Of the 30,000 it might be literally the worst and dumbest post I’ve ever done. And I’ve tried my best to clarify six ways from Sunday, but you know at least I think it’ll be obvious that in fact far from being antisemitic, I’m in fact philosemitic.”
In his first interview with mainstream media since his antisemitic post, he lashed out at advertisers leaving his platform because of rising antisemitism on X, telling them to “Go f**k yourself.”
Speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit in New York, Musk said: “I don’t want them to advertise. If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money go f**k yourself. Go. F**k. Yourself,” he said. “Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel” he added, referring to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who spoke earlier at the summit on Wednesday.
