Elon Musk lashed out publicly for a second time at Walt Disney Chief Govt Officer Bob Iger, escalating criticism over the leisure firm’s determination to affix an promoting boycott of his social media platform.
“Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company,” Musk stated on X, the social media service that he owns. Musk additionally stated Iger “should be fired immediately.”
The feedback come after Disney, together with different firms, paused their advert spending on X, previously Twitter, following Musk’s endorsement of antisemitic remarks on the positioning. Disney was one of many largest advertisers on X.
“Advertisers have lots of choices of where to spend their marketing dollars, and Twitter/X is certainly not a must-advertise platform, it never has been,” stated Wealthy Greenfield, a media analyst at LightShed Companions. “Brands want to have confidence in management, leadership and brand safety, and it’s hard to see how attacking one of the most respected CEOs in the world further achieve that goal.”
In a collection of posts Thursday, Tesla’s CEO appeared to seek advice from the box-office efficiency of some current Disney movies, saying Iger “drops more bombs than a B-52.”
Disney declined to remark.
Musk additionally referenced a New Mexico lawsuit alleging content material from Facebook and Instagram enabled baby sexual abuse and trafficking.
“Why no advertiser boycott, Bob Eiger?” Musk wrote on X. “You are endorsing this material!” The misspelling of Iger’s final title was Musk’s.
The liberal watchdog group Media Issues for America lately reported that advertisements on X for Apple Inc., Worldwide Enterprise Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp. had been operating subsequent to pro-Nazi content material. Musk has sued the group.
Throughout an look on the New York Instances DealBook Summit final week, Musk stated advertisers had been making an attempt to blackmail him. He singled out Iger, who appeared on the similar occasion.
Underneath Musk, X has change into a less-desirable product for would-be advertisers, in keeping with Joshua Tucker, a professor of politics and co-director of the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York College.
“There’s an interesting irony here that Musk, who claims to have bought Twitter to make it a free speech platform, is upset when others exercise their own free speech to distance themselves from his or his company’s actions,” Tucker stated.
