Elon Musk to advertisers "Go fuck yourself"

The Washington Post:

Amid a growing advertiser exodus over antisemitism on his social media site, Elon Musk told advertisers he doesn’t want their money — in no uncertain terms.

“Go fuck yourself,” Musk said at the New York Times DealBook conference, addressing the growing list of advertisers who have stopped spending money on X, formerly Twitter, over concerns that Musk himself was amplifying antisemitism and racism on the social media site. 

He appeared to specifically call out Disney chief executive Bob Iger, whose company is among those who paused advertising on X, saying, “Hi, Bob.” Iger had spoken earlier at the conference, but it was unclear if he was still in the room when Musk spoke.

“What this advertising boycott is going to do is to kill the company,” Musk said before a crowd of business executives and journalists gathered at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan; the conference was also streamed live online. 

If X does go bankrupt, the public will blame censorious advertisers, not him or his actions, Musk said, vowing not to bow to pressure from outside companies or critics.

“Let the chips fall where they may,” he said.

X has faced rolling boycotts from advertisers since Musk bought the platform a year ago and pledged to make it a haven for free speech, while firing most of the company’s moderation team. 

But when Musk responded to a user who blamed Jewish communities for bringing antisemitism upon themselves by saying “you have said the actual truth,” the departures gained steam....