Elon Musk to X/Twitter Advertisers Who Have Pulled Spending: ‘Go F— Yourself’
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor A visibly irate Elon Musk said advertisers who pulled spending from X/Twitter, following his post that endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory, were trying to “blackmail” the company and threatened to drive it into bankruptcy.
Musk, currently the world’s wealthiest individual, had a message to big advertisers including Disney that halted spending on his social network: “Go fuck yourself… Go.
Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear?” he said Wednesday at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit. He lambasted advertisers who were making themselves appear as if they were acting virtuously while being “evil.” Earlier at the DealBook Summit, Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the company’s decision to halt ad spending on X. “I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he has accomplished,” Iger said.
However, given “the position [Musk] took, in quite a public manner,” Disney concluded that its association with Musk and X/Twitter was “not necessarily a positive one for us.” Asked to respond, Musk said if a company like Disney “is going to try and blackmail me with advertising” they should not advertise on X. “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel — don’t advertise,” said Musk, who wore a leather bomber jacket.
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