Elon Musk expresses regret for endorsing antisemitic post but swears at advertisers boycotting X over it
Elon Musk holds up a pendant from Israel that says “Bring Them Home” as he speaks during the New York Times annual DealBook summit on November 29, 2023 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Elon Musk called his recent endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory “foolish” and said he was “sorry for that post” on X, the social media platform he owns and renamed from Twitter.
But speaking at the New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday, Musk also struck back, in expletive-laden language, at the advertisers who have fled the platform over his post.
And the mogul, fresh off a trip to Israel where he toured a community ravaged by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, also suggested that some Jewish organizations have funded Hamas-affilated groups under what he said was the guise of “perception of persecution.”
Musk’s comments came during an hour-long interview with Jewish New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin at the business conference. Musk reserved his biggest vitriol for advertisers including Disney that have suspended their spending on X after Musk endorsed another user’s articulation of the antisemitic “Great Replacement” theory.
“If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go f— yourself,” Musk said.
“Hey Bob, if you’re here in the audience, sorry, that’s how I feel,” he added, in an apparent reference to Disney CEO Bob Iger. Earlier in the day, Iger said Disney’s decision to leave X came after the company decided the site was “not something for us” because Musk took “the position he took, in quite a public manner.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Musk expressed regret for sending his Nov. 15 tweet in which he called a user’s antisemitic post “the actual truth.”
“I should have, in retrospect, not replied to that particular person and I should have written in greater length as to what I meant,” Musk told Sorkin.
“I mean, look, I’m sorry for that post. It was foolish of me,” he added. “Of the 30,000 it might be literally the worst and dumbest post I’ve ever done. And I’ve tried my best to clarify six ways from Sunday, but you know at least I think it’ll be obvious that in fact far from being antisemitic, I’m in fact philosemitic.”
The user Musk responded to had written, in an echo of the Great Replacement theory, “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them. I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s— now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities [they] support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.”
Musk attracted widespread criticism and condemnation for his reply to the tweet, which came amid a global rise in antisemitism in the wake of Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. But on Wednesday he continued to defend the sentiments he said he meant to express in the post, saying his point had been that Jews fund groups that “essentially promote any persecuted group or any group with the perception of persecution” and claiming without evidence, “This includes radical Islamic groups.”
Musk did not offer any specifics about the groups he was referring to or the nature of their support for radical Islamic groups.
Since Oct. 7, some far-left Jewish groups have allied themselves with pro-Palestinian activists in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, which would leave Hamas in power; those groups have drawn criticism from Jews and others who argue they are working against Jewish interests.
(Musk has also feuded with one prominent Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League civil rights watchdog, whose CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has both condemned and praised Musk and was in the summit’s audience.)
“The Jewish people have been persecuted for thousands of years. There is a natural affinity, therefore, for persecuted groups,” Musk said. “Everyone here has seen the massive demonstrations for Hamas in every major city in the West. That should be jarring. Well, a number of those organizations receive funding from prominent people in Jewish communities.”
Musk continued, “It’s unwise to fund organizations, to support groups that want your annihilation.” He then prompted applause by adding, “Let’s say you fund a group and that group supports Hamas, who wants you to die. Perhaps you should not fund them.”
Discussing his recent tour of Israeli sites that were attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, Musk said his trip had been planned in advance of his controversial tweet and was “not an apology tour.” He showed off a dogtag he wore around his neck reading “Bring Them Home” that he said had been given to him by a parent of one of the hostages. (Malki Shem-Tov, whose 21-year-old son Omer is a hostage, gave Musk the necklace during their meeting in Israel.)
In a meeting President @Isaac_Herzog held with @ElonMusk & families of hostages, Rachel showed Elon a video of her son Hersh, badly injured, being abducted by Hamas. Malki, father of another hostage, Omer, presented Elon with a dog-tag inscribed “our hearts are hostage in Gaza”. pic.twitter.com/BC2SePazQV
— Office of the President of Israel (@IsraelPresident) November 27, 2023
“I said that I would wear it as long as there is a hostage still remaining. And I am,” Musk said.
Musk’s relationship with Jews was a hot topic at the summit. In addition to Iger, Vice President Kamala Harris was also asked about his antisemitic tweet, responding, “I have nothing to say.” (The White House has condemned Musk for the tweet, which it called an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.”)
And Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed Musk’s recent visit, saying he “appreciated” the mogul’s appearance but stopping short of saying he believed Musk would effectively fight antisemitism on X.
Musk also praised the X feature known as Community Notes, user-generated information meant to add context to tweets. Community Notes has displayed antisemitic misinformation in the past.
Later in his talk, Musk suggested that those concerned about antisemitism on X should widen their lens. “In terms of antisemitic content, TikTok is rife with that,” he said.
Correction (Dec. 5): This story originally inaccurately named the parent of a hostage who gave Musk his “Bring Them Home” necklace. It has been corrected.
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