'Go f**k yourself!' Musk lashes out after advertisers threaten to BOYCOTT Twitter in antisemitism row
Elon Musk has attacked advertisers amid a boycotting X/Twitter row after the businessman endorsed an antisemetic tweet
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Elon Musk has attacked advertisers amid a boycotting X/Twitter row after the businessman endorsed an antisemitic tweet.
Musk told advertisers boycotting X to "go f**k yourself" and warned that the marketing withdrawal would be "what bankrupts the company".
The corporate boycott gathered pace after Musk replied to a post sharing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, calling it "actual truth".
Speaking at the New York Times' DealBook Summit, Musk said: "If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money — go f*ck yourself."
Musk told advertisers boycotting X to 'Go f**k yourself' and the ongoing chaos would be 'what bankrupts the company' during a new interview
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He also directly addressed Disney president Bob Iger, who had earlier appeared in the DealBook Summit.
Musk said: "Hey Bob, if you're in the audience. That's how I feel, don't advertise."
Disney recently joined Apple, Comcast and Warner Brothers Discovery in ending its advertising arrangements on X.
Iger had said of Disney's decision to pull ads: "By him taking the position he took, we felt that the association with that position, and Elon Musk and X, was not a positive one for us."
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A report from Media Matters alleged ads were being placed alongside antisemitic content on the social media site.
Musk responded to the claims by filing suit against the organisation.
However in the same interview, Musk admitted his antisemitic post was "a mistake," calling it "one of the most foolish — if not the most foolish — thing I’ve done on the platform".
He said: "I should in retrospect not have replied to that one person and should have written in greater length what I meant."
Musk also directly addressed Disney president Bob Iger, who had earlier appeared in the DealBook Summit
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"But those clarifications were ignored by the media and essentially I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and arguably to those who are antisemitic. And for that I’m quite sorry, that was not my intention."
The SpaceX entrepreneur has denied he is antisemitic and said his comments referred not to all Jewish people but to groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other unspecified "Jewish communities".
The White House also condemned Musk's endorsement of the post.