Elon Musk “boycotts” Disney ads, complains about being insulted by idiots, despite being a “philosopher, climate crusader” and the richest man in the world

After stunning the business world by telling every marketer what interrupted their ads

On the platform he bought for $44 billion last fall, the Tesla executive shared a self-pitying meme depicting a defeated robot. “Here I am, the richest man in the world, philosemite, climate crusaders and idiots who still get on my nerves.” (See report below.) The word “philosemite” does not appear in official dictionaries, but is credibly defined as a person who has respect and admiration for the Jewish people and Jewish history.

In another post (also below), Musk included a bar chart of recent social media research from data firm The Generation Lab. The study examined the relationship between the use of various social media platforms and the amount of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic material contained therein. The three bars in the graphic show that TikTok and Instagram have significantly more offensive material than X/Twitter. “Why boycott Disney X while spending millions on other platforms?” Musk asked himself. His post did not include a link to the full study or additional information.

Disney, along with other major advertisers and media companies such as Apple, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery stopped advertising on X/Twitter two weeks ago after Musk personally endorsed an anti-Semitic post. In a response to the post that cited the long-denied “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, Musk said the author was telling “the real truth,” a comment he later called a mistake. The non-profit organization Media Matters has also documented that Musk has filed a lawsuit against Media Matters over these claims and has repeatedly insisted that he is not an anti-Semite.

Appearing shortly before Musk takes the stage Wednesday New York Times Bob Iger, CEO of DealBook Summit Disney, described the company’s reasons for suspending advertising. “Elon is larger than life in many ways and his name is closely tied to the companies he founded or owns, whether it’s Tesla or SpaceX or now X,” Iger said. “And because he was quite public about the position he took, we felt that the association with that position and Elon Musk and X was not necessarily positive for us. And we have decided to withdraw our advertising.”

The ad break that Disney and most other marketers currently pause does not extend to advertising messages sent through corporate accounts. This fact led many observers to note that Musk’s use of the term “boycott” was not entirely appropriate.

After Musk specifically delivered his “F-word” message to advertisers, he added, “Hi Bob,” apparently referring to Iger. He went on to say that the “advertising boycott” would “destroy the company.” “And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company.”