Elon Musk offered a blunt response to advertisers shying away from his social media platform after Musk commented on an anti-Semitic tweet.
During Wednesday’s New York Times DealBook Summit, as Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin summed up the situation, Musk interjected, “I hope they stop. Don’t advertise,” according to a video posted to X.
“You don’t want them to advertise?” Sorkin said.
“No,” came the flat response. Sorkin asked for an explanation.
WARNING: The following conversation and related video contain language that some may find offensive.
“If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising — blackmail me with money — go f*** yourself. Go. F***. Yourself,” he said.
“Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel. Don’t advertise,” Musk said, referring to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who during the event had explained why Disney pulled its advertising from X.
Sorkin tried to make Musk respond to what the advertising boycott would do to the finances of X.
“What this advertising boycott is going to do, it’s going to kill the company,” Musk replied.
After Sorkin tried to interject, Musk continued, saying, “the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail.”
After Sorkin said that advertisers will put the onus on Musk if X fails, the Tesla CEO replied, “let’s see how Earth responds to that.”
According to The New York Times, about 200 big advertisers — including Disney, Apple and IBM — stopped placing ads on X after Musk supported a comment accusing Jewish communities of “hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
The Times estimated the boycott could cost X $75 million this quarter.
Reuters reported that Musk had been in hot water “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.'”
During his DealBook appearance, Musk said he should not have replied to the post, and “should have written in greater length what I meant.”
“I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and, arguably, to those who are anti-Semitic and for that, I am quite sorry,” he said. “That was not my intention.”
“What I care about is the reality of goodness, not the perception of it,” he added, according to Reuters. “And what I see all over the place is people who care about looking good while doing evil. F*** them.”
The full interview can be viewed here or below:
Musk said he is not worried about having fans.
“I have no problem being hated. Hate away,” he said, according to NBC.
“There’s a real weakness to wanting to be liked,” he added, according to CNN.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.