‘Nothing could be further from the truth’

Elon Musk blasted “bogus media stories” alleging he is antisemitic after he endorsed a disparaging tweet about Jews last week.

The billionaire’s statement of defense follows a turbulent week in which several major companies pulled ads from X in condemnation of antisemitism they say he allowed to spread on the social media platform.

“This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic,” Musk posted Sunday on his social media platform, X.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he declared.

“I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all,” he added in the post.

The world’s richest man found himself in hot water last week after he tweeted that a user was speaking “the actual truth” in response to a post that claimed, “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”

The user’s tweet also claimed that Jews supported “hordes of minorities” immigrating to the US.

Hours after his apparent agreement sparked outrage online, Musk walked back and qualified that he does not believe hatred of white people extends “to all Jewish communities.”

Musk then went after the Anti-Defamation League, whom he has blamed for causing a reported 60% drop in X’s ad revenue through its campaign to moderate hate speech.

He posted in the same thread that the organization “unjustly attacks the majority of the West” despite its support for Israel and Jews.

“This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat. It is not right and needs to stop,” he tweeted.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO also accused the ADL of trying to shut down the site formerly known as Twitter and threatened to sue the league for “falsely accusing it and me of being antisemitic.”

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates blasted Musk, and said the Biden administration condemns “this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans.”

“It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of Antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Bates said.

Amid the drama, Apple announced it was yanking advertisements from Musk’s X after a report found that its ads were placed alongside far-right content. 

Disney, film company Lionsgate and tech giant IBM also pulled their ads from the social media site after Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group, reported that their ads were placed next to content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party on X.

X said its system does not intentionally place brands “actively next to this kind of content,” and that the content cited by Media Matters would no longer be able to make money off its posts.

Scores of Jewish leaders called for other companies to halt ads on X following the report’s publication.

Musk, in response, vowed to file “a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.”