Amid backlash for endorsing an antisemitic tweet, Elon Musk has yet again stirred the hornet’s nest. The CEO of X has used choice words for fleeing advertisers.
Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), is one of the most influential people in the world who is also prone to running into controversies one after the other. At a time when companies are heavily banking on revenues from advertisers, the 52-year-old seems to have hurled some unsavoury words at advertisers on X.
At the DealBook Summit event held in New York, Musk was asked about his recent trip to Israel amid criticism of his endorsement of an antisemitic tweet. In a video that is viral now, the interviewer asked the billionaire technocrat about how his trip was. The interviewer also alluded to the trip as an apology tour and how advertisers were leaving the platform.
“If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go **** yourself. Go **** yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is,” Musk said tersely to an audience who let out chuckles. When the interviewer attempted to reason with Musk, who was at his nonchalant best, the Tesla boss asserted his stance with a cheeky grin.
Musk said that the advertising boycott was going to kill the company and the whole world. “The whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company. Everyone will document it in great detail,” Musk said.
When the interviewer asked the X CEO, what if people were to say that the things he said were inappropriate and that they didn’t feel comfortable on the platform? Musk simply responded by saying, “Let’s see how Earth responds to that”.
When asked about the economics of the platform in the absence of advertisements, Musk plainly said that if the company “fails because of an advertising boycott, it will fail because of an advertising boycott”. He said that this failure will be what bankrupts the company and that’s what everybody on Earth will know. At this point, the interviewer reminded Musk of the idea of trust. The SpaceX chief said that the trust will be gone because of the advertising boycott.
On November 16, an X profile @breakingbaht shared an antisemitic tweet, to which Musk responded by saying, “You have said the actual truth.” The tweet had accused Jewish people of ‘hatred against whites’. Following Musk’s response, there was a severe backlash, with many organisations, including The Walt Disney Company, pulling out their ads from X. Following the controversial tweet, Musk visited Israel and spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the billionaire later said that it had nothing to do with his tweet as the trip was planned much ahead of time.
Source:indianexpress.com