Elon Musk apologized for his "dumbest" social media post ever in his first interview with the media after his antisemitic statement on his platform this week.
However, he lashed out at sponsors who were quitting his site due to escalating antisemitism on X.
"I don't want them to advertise," he stated in New York at the New York Times DealBook Summit.
Did you read this?
“If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money, go f**k yourself. Go. F**k. Yourself,” he said. “Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel,” he added, referring to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who spoke earlier at the summit on Wednesday.
Disney did not immediately return a request for comment on Musk's remarks.
Musk spoke while X CEO Linda Yaccarino sat in the crowd. Yaccarino was hired to entice big-name marketers to return.
Musk also stated in a long-winded talk that he has no difficulty being despised.
“Hate away,” he said. “There’s a real weakness to wanting to be liked.
Musk, dressed in a leather jacket, black jeans, leather boots, and a necklace with the words "bring them home" given to him by a family member of an Israeli hostage, said it's been "a hell of a year," and admitting that he occasionally says "the wrong thing."
Following Musk's apparent promotion of an anti-semitic conspiracy theory favored by White supremacists, several notable corporations halted their advertising on X, formerly known as Twitter, this month.
Media corporations such as Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, were among those who left advertising on the platform.
But he also said that his anti-Semitic post was "the worst" he'd ever done.
"I mean, look, I'm sorry for that … post," he added.
“It was foolish of me. 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.”
