‘Go! F*ck! Yourself!’ Elon Musk Rails Against Advertisers He Says Will ‘Kill’ Twitter in Wild, Awkward DealBook Interview

Elon Musk lashed out at advertisers pulling their spending from X, formerly Twitter, at the New York Times DealBook summit on Wednesday.

The appearance, in which Andrew Ross Sorkin questioned Musk on his stewardship of X, his endorsement of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that sparked a massive advertiser boycott of the platform he bought last year, and his trip to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was equal parts surreal and awkward.

From the outset of the interview, which as of writing is ongoing, Sorkin asked Musk about his post that sparked outrage. “I have no problem being hated,” Musk said, looking at the crowd of assembled press and business leaders and smiling. He admitted his post was possibly “the worst” he had ever published, and apologized for fueling the anti-Semites that agreed with him. “Essentially I handed a loaded gun to the people who hate me,” he said. He also insisted his trip to Israel was “not an apology tour.”

“I am quite sorry,” he said. “I should in retrospect not have replied to that particular post.”

When asked about advertisers leaving X, including Disney (its CEO Bob Iger spoke earlier at the summit) Musk made comments that shocked the crowd. “I hope they stop,” he said. “Don’t advertise.”

“You don’t want them to advertise? What do you mean?” Sorkin asked incredulously.

“No,” Musk said. “If someone’s going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself. Go. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear?”

“Hi Bob,” Musk joked to the crowd, referring to Iger.

Sorkin pointed out that Linda Yaccarino, the veteran advertising executive who was hired to bring ad money flowing back to X, was sitting in the audience for the interview.

Musk then said the boycott is “going to kill the company.”

Watch above, via NYT.