Posted in: NBC, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV, YouTube | Tagged: bob iger, disney, elon musk, linda yaccarino, opinion, twitter, x

Twitter/X CEO Cleaning Up Elon Musk Mess with Social Media Shovel

Not long after he made her job just that much harder, Twitter/X CEO Linda Yaccarino was out there cleaning up the mess that Elon Musk made.

Even with the lineup that was in place for this year's conference, do you think Andrew Ross Sorkin & The New York Times' DealBook Summit knew that they would be getting this level of coverage? On Wednesday, Disney CEO Bob Iger explained that it had pulled advertising on Twitter/X in response to Elon Musk supporting & promoting antisemitic hate on his social media service. "I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he's accomplished. Not just you know, one business, but a few businesses. And we know Elon is larger than life in many respects and that his name is very much tied to the companies he either founded or he owns, whether it's Tesla or SpaceX, or now X. And by him taking the position that he took in quite a public manner, we just felt that the association with that position and Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us. And we decided we would pull our advertising," Iger explained – adding that he wasn't sure how long the ban would end. Based on Musk's response later in the conference, we wouldn't be expecting any policy changes on The Mouse's front anytime soon.

"What this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is going to kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company," Musk revealed to Sorkin – apparently already looking to pass the blame to someone instead of taking ownership over how the value of the social media service has dropped since he took the reigns. Of course, all of this had to be "music to the ears" (sarcasm detector) of Twitter/X CEO Linda Yaccarino, who was brought aboard to convince big-time advertisers that Twitter/X would be a good home for their advertising dollars.

But just in case she thought that her job was difficult enough, Musk upped his game with a message to Iger and other advertisers. "Don't advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself," Musk responded. "Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? Hey Bob [Iger], if you're in the audience. That's how I feel, don't advertise." That's right, Disney! How dare you take issue with someone who posts and then removes support for a meme on Twitter/X that promoted the whackjob "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory that accused members of the Democratic Party of child abuse and trafficking.

But just like when the circus comes to town, and they have those parades with the street scoopers cleaning up all of the shit that the animals leave behind them, Yaccarino whipped out her metaphorical shovel to defend Musk's performance art. "Today, [Elon Musk] gave a wide-ranging and candid interview at [DealBook] 2023. He also offered an apology, an explanation, and an explicit point of view about our position," Yaccarino posted after Musk was finished with his one-man effort to make her job as complicated as possible. "X is enabling an information independence that's uncomfortable for some people. We're a platform that allows people to make their own decisions. And here's my perspective when it comes to advertising: X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street — and the X community is powerful and is here to welcome you. To our partners who believe in our meaningful work — Thank You." Here's a look:

Later in yesterday's session, Musk did take some responsibility, sharing that "I should, in retrospect, not have replied to that particular post, and should have expanded in greater length about what I meant." But not so much because it was the wrong thing to do as much as it gave "those who hate me" another reason to criticize him. "I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me," Musk told Sorkin, adding that it was "one of the most foolish" things he's posted on the social media service. Oh, Elon – you're wrong again. That doesn't even crack your top five foolish posts – but dare to dream!

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