Elon Musk criticizes advertisers who leave X

The strongly worded comments came during an interview with The New York Times in which Musk repeatedly said he regretted tweeting in agreement with an anti-Semitic post on November 15.

Elon Musk criticizes advertisers and then deletes post because of misleading content. — Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, and owner of X. Photo: Reuters

Musk has faced a barrage of criticism since he endorsed anti-Semitic views from a user who falsely claimed that Jews were fueling hatred of white people. Musk said at the time that the user was referring to the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory, and that Musk believed the user was telling the "actual truth."

The Tesla CEO has taken umbrage at claims he is anti-Semitic and said advertisers who have left X, formerly known as Twitter, should not think they can "blackmail" him.

Lou Paskalis, founder of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory and former global head of communications at Bank of America, said Musk’s profanity toward advertisers was “the final chapter” for brands that do business with X. “They won’t forget it,” he said.

Musk said that customers who dislike him should consider the products his company makes based on their quality, referring to Tesla electric cars and SpaceX rockets.

Musk added that he himself has arguably done more for the environment, at Tesla, than anyone else in the world , based on Tesla's massive sales of electric vehicles. "So it's fair to say that as the leader of the company, I've done more for the environment than anybody -- any human being on Earth."

Musk's comments came on the same day that US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that the rise in anti-Semitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has reached a crisis point, saying it threatens the safety of Jews around the world and the future of Israel.

The "Great Replacement" theory falsely claims that Jews and leftists are creating the ethnic and cultural replacement of whites with non-white immigrants, which will result in a "white genocide".

Following the post, major US companies including Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and NBCUniversal parent company Comcast suspended their advertising on X.

Following criticism surrounding his post, Musk traveled to Israel and toured the site of a Hamas attack in the country on October 7. On Monday, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a livestreamed conversation on X.

“Your coming here speaks to your commitment to trying to ensure a better future,” Prime Minister Netanyahu told Musk during a conversation in Israel.

Mai Anh (according to Reuters)

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