Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of X, formally Twitter, had some strong choice words for companies who have decided to pull advertisements from the company after certain ads appeared next to pro-Nazi posts.
Musk was interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin Wednesday afternoon at The New York Times Dealbook Summit when he was asked about companies pulling their ads from the social media website and if he had a message for them.
“Don’t advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself,” Musk said. “Go f*** yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience. That’s how I feel, don’t advertise.”
Bob Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney Co., is the Bob to whom Musk referred during the interview.
Video of the interview was quickly shared on social media.
Earlier during the event, Iger explained why Disney decided to pull advertisements from the platform.
“I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he’s accomplished. Not just you know, one business, but a few businesses. And we know Elon is larger than life in many respects, and that his name is very much tied to the companies he either founded or he owns, whether it’s Tesla or SpaceX, or now X,” Iger said during the event.
“And by him taking the position that he took in quite a public manner, we just felt that the association with that position and Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us. And we decided we would pull our advertising,
Linda Yaccarino, X’s CEO, who was hired to bring advertisers to the social media site, sat stone-faced in the front row, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
During the interview, Musk was also asked if he was a decent person and someone who could be trusted.
“I think I am, but I am certainly not going to do some sort of tap dance to prove that I am,” Musk said.
