'I will say what I want': Elon Musk 'doesn't care' if he loses money for speaking his mind

Despite any potential financial repercussions,Twitter owner Elon Musk affirmed his intention to persist in sharing contentious tweets. He justified himself against allegations of antisemitism stemming from his comments about George Soros.

The Twitter CEO and Tesla founder said he is “allowed to say what I want to”, as he defended a tweet posted on Tuesday saying the billionaire financier “reminds me of Magneto” – the Jewish villain in the X-Men series.

In an interview with US broadcaster CNBC on Tuesday, he said: “I’ll say what I want to say and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”

Soros reminds me of Magneto

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2023

Soros, hailing from a Jewish family in Hungary during the 1930s, endured the harrowing Nazi occupation of his homeland. Similarly, the character Magneto, originating from a German Jewish family, is depicted as a survivor of concentration camps in his backstory.

Soros frequently becomes the subject of right-wing conspiracy theorists' attacks, which often bear clear indications of underlying antisemitism.

Musk also continued his attack on Soros in replies to his tweet. Brian Krassenstein, a US-based journalist, responded that Soros is “attacked nonstop for his good intentions”, to which Musk replied: “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said Musk was feeding “antisemitic tropes” and would “embolden extremists who already contrive anti-Jewish conspiracies”.

Soros often is held up by the far-right, using antisemitic tropes, as the source of the world’s problems. To see @ElonMusk, regardless of his intent, feed this segment — comparing him to a Jewish supervillain, claiming Soros “hates humanity" — is not just distressing, it's… pic.twitter.com/ECAuYahSga

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) May 16, 2023

With an impressive following of nearly 140 million on Twitter, Elon Musk frequently encounters controversy through his posts, making it a regular occurrence in his online presence.

The CNBC interviewer, David Faber, told Musk he was now being accused of antisemitism, to which Musk replied: “No, I’m definitely not I’m like, I’m like a pro-semite, if anything.”

Asked about the “humanity” tweet, Musk said: “Yeah I think that’s true, that’s my opinion.” He also defended his interaction last week with conspiracy theorist tweets about a mass shooting in Texas this month.

'Linda is obviously incredible': Musk on new Twitter CEO

Just days after appointing Linda Yaccarino, a prominent US advertising executive, as the CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk expressed his confidence in her capabilities. During the interview with CNBC, Musk remarked that Yaccarino would bring significant value to the advertising-dependent platform, while emphasizing that he himself would still maintain involvement in the company.

Around 90% of Twitter's revenue is derived from advertising, making it a crucial source of income for the platform. However, following Musk's takeover, Twitter experienced a decline in ad spending, primarily due to concerns surrounding issues such as hate speech, moderation standards, and a flawed relaunch of the platform's subscription service in the previous year. These factors collectively contributed to the challenging situation faced by Twitter in terms of its advertising revenue.

“It’s very much an advertising dependent business,” Musk said. “Linda is obviously incredible at that. She’s just a great executive in general … my skills and interests are in technology.”

Musk had earlier said that the plan was for the new CEO to operate the company, while he focused on building new products.

“I will continue to play a role, advancing the software. And, you know, getting the features and product stuff basically,” he said.

In addition, Musk mentioned that Twitter, which has had a history of financial losses, was on the verge of reaching a point where it would break even. He also suggested that Yaccarino might consider rehiring some of the approximately 6,000 employees who were laid off following the acquisition.

“I think we absolutely need to hire people. And if they’re not too mad at us, probably rehire some of the people that we let go,” he said.