Speaking at the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday, Billionaire owner of X Elon Musk shared rather explicit words to advertisers who he claims are trying to blackmail him. In his speech, Musk addressed the advertisers looking to boycott the X platform, saying “if somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f—yourself.” He added, “Don’t advertise.”
Some advertisers have begun boycotting the platform because of because of antisemitic posts shared on it. Elon Musk also implied that fans of his, and of X, would boycott those advertisers in return. In conversation with interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin, Musk said “I have no problem being hated. Hate away.”
Recently, Musk has promoted and sometimes verbally endorsed what the White House called “antisemitic and racist hate” on X, formerly Twitter. Musk has been vocal about supporting free speech, despite some instances of it being labeled as “hate speech” by users and advertisers. Companies such as Disney, Apple, and more have suspended campaigns on the platform.
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Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, denies that he is antisemitic. He said on X, “Clear calls for extreme violence are against our terms of service and will result in suspension.”