ELON Musk apologised yesterday for endorsing a social media post widely seen as anti-Semitic, but accused advertisers turning away from his social media platform X of “blackmail”, saying anyone who does so can “go f*** yourself”.

The remark before corporate executives at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence.

Earlier, Musk apologised for what he called “literally the worst and dumbest post that I’ve ever done”.

In a comment on X, Musk on November 15 called a post “the actual truth” that said Jewish communities advocated a “dialectical hatred against whites”, which was criticised as echoing long-time conspiracy theory among white supremacists.

The statement prompted a flood of departures from X of major advertisers, including Apple, Disney, Comcast and IBM, that criticised Musk for anti-semitism.

“I’m sorry for that tweet or post,” Musk said yesterday. “It was foolish of me.”

He told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin his post had been misinterpreted and that he had sought to clarify the remark in subsequent posts to the thread.

But Musk said he wouldn’t be beholden to pressure from advertisers.

“If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money?” Musk said. “Go f*** yourself.”

But the billionaire acknowledged there were business implications to the advertisers’ actions.

“If the company fails… it will fail because of an advertiser boycott” Musk said. “That will be what will bankrupt the company.”

Musk, who during a visit to Israel earlier this week met with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted in the interview he held no discrimination against Jewish people, calling himself “philo-Semitic”, or an admirer of Judaism.

During the interview, Musk wore a necklace given to him by a parent of an Israeli hostage taken in the Hamas attack on October 7. The necklace reads “Bring Them Home”.

Musk told Sorkin the Israel trip had been planned earlier and was not an “apology tour” related to the controversial tweet. – AFP, November 30, 2023.