© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk, Chief Government Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and proprietor of X, previously referred to as Twitter, attends the Viva Know-how convention devoted to innovation and startups on the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June
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By Sheila Dang
(Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk advised advertisers which have fled his social media platform X over antisemitic content material to “go fuck yourself” in a fiery Wednesday interview.
His profanity-laced remarks adopted a second of contrition in a New York Instances DealBook Summit interview, as he first mentioned “I’m sorry” for a tweet that agreed with an anti-Jewish publish on X on Nov. 15.
Musk has confronted a torrent of criticism since he on Nov. 15 agreed with a consumer who falsely claimed Jewish folks had been stoking hatred towards white folks, saying the consumer who referenced the “Great Replacement” conspiracy concept was talking “the actual truth.”
On Wednesday Musk mentioned he had “handed a loaded gun” to detractors, describing his publish as probably the worst he had made throughout a historical past of messages that included many “foolish” ones.
The Tesla (NASDAQ:) CEO bristled at the concept he was antisemitic and mentioned that advertisers who left X, previously referred to as Twitter, mustn’t assume they may blackmail him, saying “fuck you” quite a few instances. At one level he added the phrases “Hey Bob,” an obvious reference to Robert Iger, chief govt of Walt Disney (NYSE:), which pulled advertisements on X.
The “Great Replacement” concept holds that Jewish folks and leftists are engineering the ethnic and cultural substitute of white populations with non-white immigrants that can result in a “white genocide.”
Musk’s publish drew condemnation from the White Home for what it referred to as an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.”
Following the publish, main U.S. firms together with Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery (NASDAQ:) and NBCUniversal mum or dad Comcast (NASDAQ:) suspended their advertisements on X. A report from liberal watchdog group Media Issues precipitated the advertiser exit, which mentioned it discovered advertisements subsequent to posts that supported Nazism. The platform filed a lawsuit final week towards Media Issues for defamation.
Within the wake of the condemnation, Musk traveled to Israel and toured the positioning of Hamas’ assault within the nation on Oct. 7. On Monday, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in a live-streamed dialog on X.
Musk on Wednesday mentioned the journey had been deliberate earlier than his message and was “independent” of the problem.
Musk in Israel mentioned he’s towards antisemitism and something that “promotes hate and conflict” and acknowledged that X wouldn’t promote hate speech.
“The fact that you came here speaks volumes of your commitment to try to secure a better future,” Netanyahu advised Musk in the course of the dialog.
The 2 males beforehand met at Tesla’s headquarters in California in September to debate the deserves and risks of superior synthetic intelligence.
Throughout the dialog, which happened shortly after Musk attacked the Anti-Defamation League, Netanyahu urged the billionaire to strike a steadiness between the safety of free speech on-line and combating hate speech.
