"Walt Disney is turning his grave": Elon Musk destroys Disney in ways nobody saw coming

Modified Dec 10, 2023 13:11 GMT

A still of Elon Musk (Image via Instagram/@elonmuskh)

Elon Musk has escalated his conflict with Disney and its CEO, Bob Iger. As renowned, Musk has criticized Disney for not suspending its ads on Meta platforms despite allegations of child s*x trafficking content on these sites.

Notably, this follows Disney's withdrawal of advertising from X (formerly Twitter), which, according to various sources, he acquired in October 2022 for $44 billion.

Furthermore, in an interview with Sandy Munro on December 6, 2023, for his YouTube channel Munro Live, Musk hurled a blatant jab at Disney. While expressing disdain, Musk wondered what Walt Disney, the founder of Disney, would think of his namesake company today. He suggests Disney would be extremely displeased.

"You have to wonder, what would Walt Disney think of the company that is his namesake today? I'm telling you, I think Walt Disney's turning in his grave faster than a drill bit," he said.

Elon Musk takes a blatant jab at Disney once again

The discussion about Disney started when Sandy Munro, the YouTuber, expressed his view that Americans have somewhat lost touch with their historical roots. To elucidate his point, he referenced Thomas Jefferson. With his example, Sandy highlighted Jefferson's belief in adapting to trends in fashion while remaining firm in one's principles.

Furthermore, Munro commended someone for maintaining their integrity under public criticism. Then, he expressed his disdain for a certain organization by vowing never to visit it with his grandchildren. At this moment, Elon Musk speculated about Walt Disney's possible disappointment with the current state of the Disney company.

Musk even suggested that Disney's founder would be extremely upset. Despite Musk's sarcasm, Munro saw the silver lining and hoped that there would eventually be a significant shift in public opinion. As he said:

"I can well, I'm telling you, I believe that it won't take too much longer before somebody goes, 'Hey, you know what? This is something we shouldn't be having shoved down our throat any longer.' And then there'll be a big change, but it isn't going to happen next week, for sure, and that's unfortunate."

The war of words between Disney and Elon Musk perpetuates

Major companies, including Disney, stopped advertising on X after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. It must be noted that earlier, Disney was a top advertiser on X. However, later, Disney joined others like Warner Bros., Apple, and Comcast in their decision to stop all advertising on X.

Following this, in a series of tweets, Musk accused Disney of endorsing child exploitation material by continuing to advertise on Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram. This accusation came after a lawsuit against Meta for failing to stop predator networks on its platforms.

Soon after, Musk retweeted a CNBC article and criticized Disney's advertising choices. He also shared a satirical article from Babylon Bee about Disney and retweeted a post about Disney's ads on Meta, questioning Disney's advertising ethics.

On November 30, 2023, the exchange of barbs escalated with Musk's criticism of Disney after telling Bob Iger to "go f*ck yourself" at the New York Times Dealbook Summit while condemning the advertising boycott against X.

On the other hand, Bob Iger expressed respect for Musk but noted that Musk's public stance made Disney's association with his platform a negative one.

As the war of words between Disney and Elon Musk continues, it serves as a reminder of the complex interplay between corporate decisions and public perception.

Edited by Dev Sharma