'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUG/8QAFQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQb/2gAMAwEAAhADEAAAAMheKkr/xAAjEAACAQIEBwAAAAAAAAAAAAACAwEABAUTISIREhQxU2Fz/9oACAEBAAE/AIdCjuUOwwDt1tYct6883bt8caeqs8IzLRBysx5gGeEXnbT51//EABoRAAICAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIDAAEFMUH/2gAIAQIBAT8AxjmPIxYV7vtz/8QAGREBAQADAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIAAwSR/9oACAEDAQE/AOuZ1ksh4Z//2Q=='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Elon Musk was in hot water with advertisers on X (formerly known as Twitter) when he publicly acknowledged the 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theory in response to a user's tweet earlier this month. The response got a lot of flak and kicked off a move for advertisers to boycott X.
However, Elon responded to the backlash in a New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday, November 29. Although he acknowledged that his tweet was "foolish," Musk asked advertisers trying to boycott X to "go f*ck yourself."
The clip went viral all over Musk's platform. Elon's response was met with humongous cheers online. People commended the X owner for standing his ground and not falling hostage to advertisers. Investor Collin Rugg commented:
Netizens applaud Elon Musk's savage response
On Wednesday, November 29, X owner Elon Musk made an appearance at the New York Times Dealbook Summit, which was attended by several high-profile speakers, including Disney CEO Bob Iger, Vice President Kamala Harris, and FTC chair Lina Khan, among others.
Musk's attendance at the event came when the SpaceX CEO was facing a barrage of backlash from people claiming he was antisemitic due to a tweet he made in response to an X user accusing the Jewish community of pushing hatred against white people. Musk replied that the user spoke the "actual truth."
Musk's response was condemned by a lot of high-profile organizations, like the American Jewish Committee, Apple, and Disney CEO Bob Iger, who pulled advertisements from X following Musk's remarks.
On Wednesday's Summit, Musk responded to advertisers threatening a boycott of the platform by saying:
"If somebody's gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*ck yourself."
He added, directly referencing Bob Iger:
"Go. F*ck. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey, Bob, if you're in the audience."
Elon Musk's response to the controversy was celebrated on his platform X. Collin Rugg's tweet of the clip went viral, amassing over 6.9 million views at the time of writing this article. Rugg exclaimed that the response was "epic" and that this was exactly why Musk was the "perfect person" to buy Twitter.
Netizens believed that this was the appropriate response to the advertisers and thanked Musk for standing his ground. People claimed that X will only continue to grow in the future and advised others to purchase the premium subscription to help Musk, X, and free speech. Here are a few reactions to Collin Rugg's tweet:
Later, in the interview, Musk said that if the boycott continued, it would kill the company, but "the whole world will know" that the advertisers killed X. He also stated that he had no problem being hated and thought that he was a person who could be trusted but wouldn't "tap dance" to prove that to anybody. At one point, he even exclaimed:
"What I care about is the reality of goodness, not the perception of it. And what I see all over the place is people who care about looking good while doing evil. F*ck them."
Despite the expletives aimed at the advertisers, the Tesla CEO did agree that his tweet was one of the "most foolish" things that he's ever said on the platform because he handed a "loaded gun" to people who hate him. He conceded that "sometimes" he says the wrong thing.
