Elon Musk has never been one to hold back when it comes to his critics, but the latest live interview with the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX could be considered over the top — even for him.
At the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday, Musk spoke to journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin about the mass exodus of big-name advertisers from X (formerly known as Twitter) due to antisemitic content reportedly published on the platform.
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“If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f—yourself,” Musk said. “Go. F—. Yourself. Is that clear?”
Watch my conversation with @ElonMusk: https://t.co/YedkELVhFn
— Andrew Ross Sorkin (@andrewrsorkin) November 29, 2023
The billionaire also said that he has “no problem being hated” and encouraged companies and business leaders opting out of doing business with him to “hate away.”
Advertisers that have left X recently include Disney (Musk even called out CEO Bob Iger by name in his rant on Wednesday), Comcast, Warner Bros. Discovery, and NBCUniversal.
Musk’s commentary prompted X CEO Linda Yaccarino, the former chairman of global advertising & partnerships at NBCUniversal, to post that Musk had offered an apology for the post at the center of the storm calling it “one of the most foolish” things he had done on the platform, and an explanation as to why he acted out in the way that he did.
Today @elonmusk gave a wide ranging and candid interview at @dealbook 2023. He also offered an apology, an explanation and an explicit point of view about our position. X is enabling an information independence that’s uncomfortable for some people. We’re a platform that allows… https://t.co/PSmSKRkJSq
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) November 30, 2023
“X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street — and the X community is powerful and is here to welcome you,” she wrote. “To our partners who believe in our meaningful work — Thank You.”
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The interview comes after Musk’s return from Israel earlier this week, where he visited a Kibbutz attacked by Hamas on October 7 and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
