Elon Musk has admitted that his endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory on his social media site X, previously known as Twitter, was a “mistake” and “one of the most foolish” things he had done on the platform.
The world’s richest man said he had “no problem being hated” but also blamed members of the media for much of the outrage surrounding the post, which is thought to have contributed to major investors in the platform pulling funding.
Earlier this month, Mr Musk responded to a Twitter/X user who accused Jewish people of hating white people by saying it was “the actual truth.” His actions sparked global outrage, with several world leaders condemning his endorsement of the conspiracy theory.
Speaking at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit this week, Mr Musk discussed the post and said that the outrage caused was “not my intention”.
“[It was] one of the most foolish — if not the most foolish — thing I’ve done on the platform,” he said.
“I should in retrospect not have replied to that one person and should have written in greater length what I meant,” he said.
“But those clarifications were ignored by the media and essentially I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and arguably to those who are antisemitic. And for that I’m quite sorry, that was not my intention.”
Earlier this week, Mr Musk visited Israel and toured a kibbutz attacked by Hamas, meeting with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The pair visited the Kfar Aza kibbutz, which Hamas attacked on 7 October, killing an estimated 52 residents. Another 20 people are reported as missing. Mr Musk said witnessing the scenes of the massacre was “jarring”, during a live event on Twitter/X with Mr Netanyahu after the tour.
Earlier this week, Mr Musk visited Israel and toured a kibbutz attacked by Hamas— (Getty Images)
Speaking at the Dealbook Summit, he denied that the visit had been – as some had described it – an “apology tour”.
“[The trip to Israel] wasn’t in response to that at all,” Mr Musk said, adding: “I have no problem being hated.”
Mr Musk later went further, addressing companies that had pulled marketing from X over concerns related to far-right content and accusing them of “blackmail”.
“Don’t advertise,” he said at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit. “If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself. Go f*** yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.”
