Elon Musk apologised for endorsing a social media post widely seen as antisemitism, but accused advertisers who are turning away from his social media platform X of blackmail.
Billionaire Elon Musk told advertisers that have fled his social media platform X over antisemitic content to “Go f*** yourself” in a fiery Wednesday interview.
His profanity-laced remarks followed a moment of contrition in a New York Times DealBook Summit interview.
Musk said repeatedly he was sorry for publishing a tweet on November 15 that agreed with an anti-Jewish post.
Musk has faced a torrent of 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.”
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.
The Tesla CEO bristled at the idea that he was antisemitic and said that advertisers who left X, formerly known as Twitter, should not think they could blackmail him.
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“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.
Iger spoke earlier at the event and said that Disney felt the association with X following Musk’s move “was not a positive one for us”. A spokesperson from Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“What I care about is the reality of goodness, not the perception of it.
