The tech billionaire had a few choice words for the advertisers that have paused spending on X after one of his controversial posts.
X owner Elon Musk set off a firestorm last week when he appeared to endorse a post on his platform that some deemed anti-Semitic, leading many advertisers to abandon the site.
But if those advertisers are hoping to influence his views or posting habits, they’re in for a disappointment.
“I have no problem being hated,” Mr. Musk said when asked about the controversy at The New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Nov. 29.
The backlash surrounds Mr. Musk’s response to a Nov. 15 X post that asserted that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
In a brief reply, Mr. Musk wrote, “You have said the absolute truth.”
He later clarified in subsequent posts that he was mainly referring to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which he claimed “unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel.”
He added that such behavior does not extend to all Jewish communities, “but it is also not just limited to ADL.”
The posts resulted in some major advertisers halting spending on the platform, including Apple, Disney, and IBM.
But Mr. Musk appeared unconcerned by that on Wednesday, stating that he didn’t want their money.
“If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmailing money, go [expletive] yourself,” he said, before pointedly adding, “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience.”
Earlier in the day, Disney CEO Bob Iger had spoken at the event.
However, Mr. Musk did acknowledge that the loss of advertising revenue could hurt and potentially even “kill” his company. But in that case, he contended, the world would blame advertisers for X’s downfall, not him.
“Let the chips fall where they may,” he said.
But even while he took a strong stand against his critics, Mr. Musk added that he did regret making the post that started the controversy, calling it “one of the most foolish” things he had done on the platform.
