Elon Musk on Thursday called for the firing of Bob Iger, escalating his attacks on the Disney CEO over the entertainment company’s decision to temporarily suspend advertising on X, formerly Twitter, over an antisemitic post by the tech billionaire.
Last month, Musk appeared to endorse a post saying Jews are “pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
Musk replied to the post, writing: “You have said the actual truth.”
Musk has since apologized and walked back that statement, which prompted an advertising boycott against X, conceding it was “one of the most foolish if not the most foolish” posts he’s made on the platform during an appearance at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit. Still, during the same interview, he went on to call out the companies who took action over his post, saying their actions could “kill the company,” before singling out the Disney CEO.
“If somebody’s going to try and blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself,” Musk said. “Go. Fuck. Yourself.”
And it appears he’s not done taking it out on Iger.
In a new post on Thursday, Musk went after Iger over Disney’s advertising relationship with Meta, citing a CNBC report about a lawsuit the New Mexico attorney general brought against Facebook and Instagram, accusing the companies of enabling child sex abuse.
“Bob Eiger thinks it’s cool to advertise next to child exploitation material,” Musk wrote, misspelling Iger’s last name. “Real stand up guy.”
Nearly an hour later, he called for Iger’s ouster in another post.
“He should be fired immediately. Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company,” Musk added.
He should be fired immediately.
Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2023
Iger has so far not commented on Musk’s posts.
During an interview at the DealBook Summit, Iger explained the reasoning behind temporarily pulling advertising from X.
“We know that Elon is larger than life in many respects and that his name is very much connected to the companies he founded or owns,” Iger said. “By him taking the position he took in a public manner, we felt that the association was not necessarily a positive one for us.
Apart from Disney, other major companies also pulled ads from X, including Apple, IBM, Lionsgate and Paramount Global, in response to Musk’s post.
The New York Times reported X is expected to lose nearly $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of this month, citing internal documents.
This is not the first time Musk has moved to fight criticism about his company.
Last month, he sued the watchdog group Media Matters for America after the nonprofit revealed ads for major brands appeared alongside X posts condoning Nazism.
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