In a strange and viral interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the NYT DealBook conference on Wednesday, Space X and Tesla mogul Elon Musk said that the advertising boycott currently plaguing X is going to “kill the company” if they don’t return, shortly after he told those same advertisers “go f*** yourself.”
In a widely shared moment during the 90-minute conversation, Musk was asked about the public perception that he was on some sort of “apology tour” following his recent endorsement of an anti-semitic post on the platform which has caused a cascade of major companies, including Apple, to withdraw their advertising from the platform.
“I hope they stop,” Musk interjected. “Don’t advertise.” Clearly taken aback, Sorkin asked him what he meant, to which Musk replied “If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go f*** yourself… Go f*** yourself! Is that clear? I hope it is.” In case it wasn’t clear, he then yelled “Hey Bob”, a jest at Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, which recently withdrew its adverts from the platform formerly known as Twitter and has given no thought to when they might return.
Here lies Twitter - iMore’s take
Obviously even more taken aback, Sorkin pressed Musk on the economics of X and that stance, whereupon Musk repeated the letters “G, F, Y,” before casually admitting that “this advertising boycott is going to kill the company.” Musk went on to state that the whole world would know it was those advertisers that killed the company, and that people would document it “in great detail.”
Sorkin pointed out that advertisers would likely say that he had killed the company, having generated a platform they no longer felt comfortable advertising on, to which he replied “Let’s see how Earth feels about that.”
Musk’s comments ring more like the ramblings of a madman than the considered rhetoric of a CEO. Perhaps more interestingly, Musk almost seems to relish the prospect that an advertising boycott might indeed kill X, as though he and his platform might become the ultimate victims in this story. Certainly, his musings on stage and barb at Iger do not portray Musk as a CEO actually concerned about the demise of his company, which he seems to think is imminent.
Tasked with damage limitation, CEO Linda Yaccarino took to X in the wake of the interview to say that X is “a platform that allows people to make their own decision” and one that stands “ at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street” for advertisers. As one commenter noted, “‘go f*** yourselves’ is certainly a clear position but I wouldn't call it a classic apology.”
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