Elon Musk, the owner of X, made headlines with his bold and unapologetic response during the New York Times' DealBook Summit. Addressing the issue of paused advertising due to his association with anti-Semitism, Musk's retort was unequivocal: "Don't advertise."
When pressed about his stance, Musk was clear. "If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself," he asserted, waving casually to Disney CEO Bob Iger among the audience.
Regarding the impact of the advertising boycott, Musk forewarned that it could lead to the company's demise. He emphasized, "What this advertising boycott is going to do is kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail."
Notably, this conversation unfolded with X CEO Linda Yaccarino present in the audience.
In his first mainstream media interview following the controversy surrounding his anti-Semitic post, Musk offered an apology for what he described as his "dumbest" social media blunder. "I mean, look, I'm sorry for that post. It was foolish of me. Of the 30,000, it might be literally the worst and dumbest post I've ever done," he expressed.
The repercussions of Musk's association with anti-Semitic content led to major companies like Apple, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, IBM, Paramount Global, Lionsgate, and the European Commission pausing or completely withdrawing their advertising from X. Reports suggest that over 100 brands have halted their ads, putting the company at risk of a potential $75 million loss by the year's end.
(With Agency Inputs)
