“Go fuck yourself!”: Musk insults renegade X-advertisers

Major advertising clients flee Elon Musk’s online platform «If someone tries to blackmail me with ads? Blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself!”, Musk rumbled on stage at a “New York Times” conference on Wednesday, repeating the insult several times. He specifically mentioned Disney boss Bob Iger.

A boycott by advertisers will kill X, Musk said. “And the whole world will know that the advertisers killed the company,” he added.

When asked whether he, as the richest person in the world, would keep the platform afloat permanently, Musk seemed to indicate that he was willing to accept that X would go financially bankrupt.

X will then simply disappear, said Musk, who paid about $44 billion for Twitter more than a year ago. Most of the money came from selling his shares in electric car manufacturer Tesla. But about 13 billion came from bank loans, which now tax X. Musk previously said that he had already had to inject money into the online service. The financial service Bloomberg estimates his wealth at $228 billion, but that consists almost entirely of shares.

Big companies are pulling back on advertising

Several major companies stopped advertising

A day later, hate speech researchers demonstrated in a report how ads from big-name brands appeared on X next to Nazi posts. In a lawsuit, X claims that the placement was created artificially through multiple requests.

After the weeks of controversy, Musk said for the first time that his “Truth” post was a mistake, “possibly the worst and stupidest post I have ever published.” His views were misunderstood. He simply wanted to tell Jewish organizations that it was not wise to support radical Islamists who wanted their destruction.

Approval of anti-Semitic circles

Musk’s X contribution was condemned by the White House, among others, and received support in anti-Semitic circles. He then repeatedly emphasized that he was not an anti-Semite. Musk was received in Israel on Monday. There he visited, among other things, a kibbutz that was attacked by the Islamist Hamas on October 7, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Musk emphasized on Wednesday that the visit had nothing to do with the controversy surrounding his X contribution.

Insight into Musk’s mentality

In the 90-minute interview, financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin used constant questions to provide unusually deep insights into Musk’s thinking and motivations. Some key points from the conversation:

(sda/dpa)