Laying it out in clear words for the advertising boycott campaign launched against Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has told the “blackmailers” to “Go **** yourself”.
Speaking at an event, when Elon Musk was being questioned by the anchor, he replied by saying that he hoped the advertisers stopped and didn’t advertise.
BREAKING: Elon Musk tells advertisers to “go f**k” themselves if they are going to try and blackmail him on his own platform.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 29, 2023
And this is exactly why Elon was the perfect person to buy Twitter 🔥
“If somebody's gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with… pic.twitter.com/33dPDu8wZC
When asked what he meant, Musk said, “If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go **** yourself,” he said.
His comment was followed by a pin-drop silence and left the anchor flabbergasted when Musk reiterated, “Go **** yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience. That’s how I feel, don’t advertise.”
The “Bob” that Musk referred to was Disney CEO Bob Iger who recently announced that the company will not advertise on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, anymore.
Musk further said that if such advertising boycott is going to “kill the company”, then the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company.
The conversation stemmed from the Tesla CEO’s recent visit to Israel to express solidarity with the victims of the 7th October deadly terrorist attack.
Musk was asked if his visit to Israel was an apology tour for his allegedly antisemitic post on X made months ago which prompted a spate of advertiser boycott.
Earlier in September, Musk reshared a post on X which supported the hastag “Ban The ADL”. ADL is a Soros-controlled agency which claims to do activism against anti-semitism.
Musk’s post was soon propagated as antisemitic by ADL prompting a wave of withdrawals from advertisers. On 5th September, Musk threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against the ADL and accused them of pressuring US advertisers to boycott the platform.
Musk claimed that X’s US ad revenue was down 60% and that the company had lost roughly $22 billion, which is half its value. Musk had purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October last year.
In more attempts to malign Musk and X, leftist media watchdog ‘Media Matters for America’ published a controversial article, claiming that X (formerly Twitter) was placing advertisements of large companies next to anti-Semitic posts.
In the article, it claimed, “As X owner Elon Musk continues his descent into white nationalist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, his social media platform has been placing ads for major brands like Apple, Bravo (NBCUniversal), IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity (Comcast) next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.”
The leftist NGO, which too has a connection with George Soros, has now been sued by Musk even as X’s advertising revenue appears to be on a steep decline.
Meanwhile, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that “the association with Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us and we decided to pull out our advertising”.
According to CNN, many advertisers have not only stopped advertising on X but also stopped posting altogether including flagship accounts of Disney, Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN’s parent company) have not posted on the platform in roughly 10 days.
