Elon Musk has set his sights on Disney and specifically its CEO, Bob Iger, after the company pulled advertising from X, formerly Twitter.
Musk bought the social media platform in October 2022 and has since rebranded it, but a number of major companies pulled advertising this month after he publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Other brands to stop advertising on X included, Warner Bros, Apple and Comcast, and Tesla investors also distanced themselves.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO was asked about Disney and other companies stopping advertising on X during the New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday. Iger also spoke at the summit earlier in the day.
"What this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is going to kill the company," Musk said, per The Hollywood Reporter. "And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company."
He also spoke about Iger directly, saying: "Don't advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself."
"Go f*** yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob, if you're in the audience. That's how I feel, don't advertise."
Musk, however, also admitted that replying to the controversial tweet was "one of the most foolish" things he had posted on X, and said: "I should, in retrospect, not have replied to that particular post, and should have expanded in greater length about what I meant.
"What I am trying to illustrate is that, sometimes I say the wrong thing."
Iger also addressed Disney's decision to stop advertising on X.
"I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he has accomplished," Iger said. "We know that Elon is larger than life in many respects, and that his name is very much connected to the companies he founded or owns. By him taking the position he took in a public manner, we felt that the association was not necessarily a positive one for us."
Musk has attracted a lot of attention for his comments during the Israel-Hamas war. The current conflict between Israel and the military arm of the Palestinian group started on October 7 when Hamas launched a surprise attack. It led to the deaths of around 1,200 people in Israel and Hamas kidnapped more than 200 others.
Israel's retaliatory air strikes and military ground campaign in Gaza have since killed about 14,800 people, according to the Associated Press. The two sides have agreed to a temporary pause in fighting to facilitate the release of some of the hostages held by Hamas in return for Palestinian prisoners.
Musk went to Tel Aviv on Monday and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog. He also visited the Kfar Azza kibbutz, a settlement attacked by Hamas on October 7, with Netanyahu.
Musk agreed to Israel's demands to provide his Starlink satellite internet service to Gaza under certain conditions and with the approval of the Israeli government, according to the country's communications minister, Shlomo Karhi.
The billionaire had originally agreed to offer Starlink to "support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organisations in Gaza." It follows his ongoing commitment to providing Starlink to Ukraine's resistance efforts, after Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
