Elon Musk wasn’t having any games played by advertisers who pulled their business from Twitter, or X, in the wake of the billionaire entrepreneur’s response to a tweet many deemed to be antisemitic. It wasn’t a pretty exchange, and Musk has regretted his engagement, calling it the most “foolish” thing he’s ever done on the platform since taking it over.
Here's what set off the firestorm earlier this month (via The Guardian):
Elon Musk tweeted his fervent agreement with an antisemitic statement on Wednesday night.
A tweet posted by @breakingbaht on Wednesday night read: “Jewish communties [sic] have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.
The billionaire owner and CTO of X, formerly Twitter, responded the same evening: “You have said the actual truth.” In another reply, he wrote: “I am deeply offended by ADL’s messaging and any other groups who push de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind.” Musk has feuded with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) before, threatening to sue over its accounting of hate speech on his social media network.
The ADL’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, decried Musk’s endorsement of the antisemitic conspiracy. He wrote: “At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories. #NeverIsNow.”
… Musk continued on the same tear about the white race. He approved of a tweet reading: “Everyone is allowed to be proud of their race, except for white people, because we’ve been brainwashed into believing that our history was some how ‘worse’ than other races. This false narrative must die.”
Musk wrote: “Yeah, this is super messed up. Time for this nonsense to end and shame ANYONE who perpetuates these lies!”
The tweet provoked immediate and strong backlash both on X and off.
That backlash has come in the form of boycotts and ad-pulling from corporate America, which Musk responded with three simple words: go f**k yourself.
Elon Musk to advertisers trying to “blackmail” him:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 29, 2023
“Go f**k yourself. Go f**k yourself!” pic.twitter.com/GLTxywmPIo
I am loving this new season of Succession. pic.twitter.com/YMNcX4yVmS
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) November 30, 2023
At the DealBook Summit in New York, New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Musk about the controversy, where Musk apologized for the tweet but took a hatchet to the companies going to war with Twitter. Musk claims he won’t be “blackmailed” by these people (via CNBC):
Speaking at the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday, Elon Musk, the owner of social media site X (formerly Twitter), scoffed at advertisers boycotting the platform because of because of antisemitic posts he amplified there.
“If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f---yourself.” He added, “Don’t advertise.”
He also implied that fans of his, and of X, would boycott those advertisers in kind. He specifically took aim at Disney.
“The whole world will know that those advertisers killed company and we will document it in great detail,” Musk threatened.
He also told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin, “I have no problem being hated. Hate away.”
In recent weeks, Musk has promoted and sometimes verbally endorsed what the White House called “antisemitic and racist hate” on X, formerly Twitter, the social media platform he owns and runs as CTO.
He called those tweets, “one of the most foolish if not the most foolish thing I’ve ever done on the platform.”
“I’m sorry for that tweet or post,” he said. He added, “I tried my best to clarify, six ways to Sunday, but you know at least I think over time it will be obvious that in fact, far from being antisemitic, I am in fact philosemitic.”
Musk probably knew what would happen when he responded; the man has over 164 million followers. I mean, you knew what would happen, and while he apologized, it’s never enough, which is why, in general, you should never do so when facing a mob. Musk had to do this for other reasons, namely, to smooth over public relations issues. So, while this isn’t the best moment for Twitter, in general, yes—companies that do this to force platforms to kowtow to what are often illiberal orthodoxies should go “f**k” themselves.
Sorry, I was late to this brouhaha. I was ironically banned forever from Twitter in June.
The most incredible clip you will watch today! pic.twitter.com/XgqmZS3bUS
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 29, 2023