'Go **** yourself': Elon Musk curses out advertisers who left X over antisemitic content

Elon Musk, in a fiery interview on Wednesday, responded firmly to advertisers who had left his social media platform X due to the presence of antisemitic content, saying, "Go **** yourself." His strong language followed a moment of regret during an interview with the New York Times DealBook Summit. Musk expressed repeated apologies for a tweet on November 15 that endorsed an anti-Jewish post.

Facing widespread criticism since agreeing with a user who falsely accused Jewish people of inciting hatred against white people, Musk defended his post by claiming the user spoke "the actual truth" regarding the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory.

On Wednesday, Musk admitted to having "handed a loaded gun" to both critics and antisemitic individuals, acknowledging that his post might be among the worst in his history of making many "foolish" statements.

The CEO of Tesla dismissed claims of being antisemitic and asserted that advertisers departing from X, formerly known as Twitter, should not assume they could manipulate him.

"If somebody's gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go **** yourself," he stated. “Is that clear? I hope so. Hey, Bob, if you're in the audience," he added, seemingly referring to Robert Iger, CEO of Walt Disney, which withdrew ads from X. Iger had earlier expressed that Disney's connection with X following Musk's actions "was not beneficial" for them.

"What I care about is the reality of goodness, not the perception of it. And what I see all over the place is people who care about looking good while doing evil. **** them," Musk remarked.

Musk's remarks coincided with US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's warning about the alarming increase in antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict. "To us, the Jewish people, the rise in antisemitism is a crisis. A five-alarm fire that must be extinguished," Schumer said delivering an emotional 40-minute speech in the Senate.

The White House condemned Musk's post, labelling it an "appalling endorsement of antisemitic and racist hate."

The "Great Replacement" theory, falsely claiming that Jewish people and leftists are orchestrating the cultural and ethnic replacement of white populations with non-white immigrants, leading to a "white genocide," underlined the controversy. Following Musk's post, major US companies like Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, and NBCUniversal parent Comcast, paused their advertising on X. Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group, triggered the advertiser exodus by reporting ads alongside posts supportive of Nazism. Musk vowed to sue the group, earlier this week.

Also Read Twitter ad fallout: Apple, Disney and more pause advertisements on X, Musk promises ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’