Elon Musk tells advertisers trying to ‘blackmail’ X — ‘Go fuck yourself’

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Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is making the headlines again, this time for an expletive-laden outburst on live TV at an annual conference hosted by The New York Times.

Speaking at the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York on Nov. 29, Elon Musk, the owner of micro-blogging platform X (formerly Twitter), lashed out at advertisers leaving the social media site due to antisemitic posts he amplified there.

Recently, Musk publicly endorsed what the White House labeled “antisemitic and racist hate” on the platform, which he has since apologized for. The tweet has also been deleted.

However, when interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin asked about advertisers leaving the platform, Musk stated:

“If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself …. Go … fuck … yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.”

Musk also shouted out to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was reportedly in the audience, saying “Hi Bob!” since the company was one of several advertisers that have left X.

“What this advertising boycott is going to do, it’s going to kill the company,” Musk told Sorkin, adding: “And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail.”

A Nov. 24 report from The New York Times suggested that up to $75 million in revenue could be in jeopardy from over 200 advertisers, including Airbnb, Coca-Cola and Microsoft.

Earlier this month, Media Matters reported that it found ads for Apple, Bravo, Oracle, Xfinity, and IBM next to posts that tout Hitler and his Nazi Party on X.

According to a Nov. 25 NPR report, the platform has lost 50 of its top 100 advertisers since Elon Musk took over. Big-name brands like Ford, Verizon, Chevrolet, Chipotle, and several pharmaceutical companies such as Merck have pulled advertising in recent months.

Related: Twitter is now worth half of the $44B Elon Musk paid for it

Crypto adviser Aubrey Strobel saw the funny side of the outburst, noting that CNBC did not expect it, “so there was no profanity delay, and therefore it violated FCC guidelines meaning CNBC gets fined. Hilarious.”

“What I see all over the place is people who care about looking good while doing evil. Fuck them,” continued Musk, who was on a roll now.

Political commentator Collin Rugg said, “And this is exactly why Elon was the perfect person to buy Twitter.”

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