Elon Musk, the billionaire proprietor of X, says the advertisers which have stopped spending on the platform as a consequence of his endorsement of an antisemitic submit can “f——” themselves.
“What it’s going to do is it’s going to kill the corporate, and the entire world will know the advertisers killed the corporate,” Musk stated on the New York Instances DealBook convention on Wednesday. “Go f—- your self.”
The submit was the “worst and dumbest I’ve ever finished,” stated Musk, the chief govt officer of Tesla Inc.
Nonetheless, if advertisers depart the corporate, its failure shall be their fault, not his — saying they have been making an attempt to “blackmail me with cash,” he stated. “I gained’t faucet dance” to show reliable, he stated.
Musk took the stage on the DealBook convention following a tumultuous few weeks for the world’s richest particular person, with a internet price of round $226 billion.
Earlier this month, Musk agreed with a submit that stated Jewish individuals maintain a “dialectical hatred” of white individuals. That message has since drawn criticism from the White Home in addition to a number of Tesla buyers. Main company spenders, together with Walt Disney Co. and Apple Inc., distanced themselves from the platform previously referred to as Twitter.
From the DealBook stage, Musk referred to as out to “Bob” particularly, referring to Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney. Iger spoke on the occasion earlier within the day.
For the primary time because the submit spurred a worldwide backlash, Musk apologized for his alternative of phrases. Musk, who flew to Israel to tour areas that have been impacted by the Oct. 7 Hamas assault alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stated the journey was deliberate earlier than the advertiser backlash. It wasn’t an “apology tour,” he stated. Following his go to, he appeared on stage carrying a canine tag, which has grow to be symbolic of a name for the return of hostages captured by Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and E.U.
Musk urged individuals to evaluate him by his actions quite than his phrases and introduced up two firms he runs as justification. Tesla, he stated, made extra electrical automobiles than rivals. SpaceX, formally named Area Exploration Applied sciences Corp., sends extra satellites into area than another firm or nation.
“Hate me, like me or detached. Would you like the perfect automobile, or do you not need the perfect automobile?” he stated. He stated he’s finished “extra for the setting than any human.”
Political clout
Musk additionally addressed the inordinate quantity of energy that he wields given his market energy in key industries similar to automobiles, area, satellites and social media. The billionaire holds the keys to technological instruments that present him with political clout that world leaders have come to depend on.
“The explanation I’ve these powers isn’t due to anticompetitive actions however as a result of we’ve executed properly,” he stated.
Musk, who had been near President Barack Obama, has had a contentious relationship with the Biden administration and stated on Wednesday that he couldn’t see himself voting for President Joe Biden within the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
He cited the president’s snub of Tesla, a reference to a 2021 electrical automobile summit the place Biden invited legacy Detroit automakers to the White Home garden however neglected Musk and Tesla. The comb off of the Musk-led automaker, which has 140,000 staff globally and is the world’s main EV producer, has remained a sore level for the billionaire.
Since then, Musk has seemed to be leaning nearer to the Republican celebration. In October, he appeared at a fundraiser for Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and in Could Musk hosted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on X as he introduced his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
Musk additionally bristled on the upswell of union exercise at carmakers, which inked a report contract with the United Auto Employees union earlier this yr after Biden confirmed up on the picket line to assist unionized staff. Now, the UAW goes after Tesla.
“I disagree with the thought of unions,” Musk stated, noting that if the UAW’s unionization drive proves profitable it’s as a result of Tesla failed to supply a adequate working setting. If the EV maker’s vegetation are unionized, it’s as a result of “we deserve it,” he stated.
The billionaire additionally addressed the debacle at Open AI, the maker of ChatGPT that Musk cofounded however later stepped down from. “I’ve blended emotions about Sam,” Musk stated about CEO Sam Altman, who was not too long ago ousted and reinstated. “The ring of energy can corrupt.”
He stated the general public ought to know the rationale Altman was fired, in case it has to do with some risks of AI. “I don’t suppose it was trivial.”
Musk is constructing a rival, referred to as xAI, utilizing the info from X, the social community.