Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have joined a growing list of blue-chip advertisers who are pulling advertising and promotions from the social-media outlet X in the wake of a recent antisemitic remark posted by the venues owner, Elon Musk.
A Lionsgate spokesperson said Friday that the entertainment company has suspended advertising on X because of Elon Musks recent antisemitic tweet. The move comes as Lionsgate is marketing the release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds Snakes, the latest film in its Hunger Games franchise. IBM earlier Friday said that it had immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.
Disney and Comcast NBCUniversal are both understood to have followed suit on Friday. A Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson said Friday that the company had paused its presence on X, though it was already believed to be minimal.
Musk on Wednesday indicated on X that he supported a statement posted by another user that suggested western Jewish populations were coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country dont exactly like them too much. Musk reposted the remark and added you have said the actual truth.
Axios reported Friday that Apple, one of the industrys most influential marketers, had also pulled its advertising from X.
The new round of Madison Avenue exits comes as the White House and the European Commission also took a hard stance against X on Friday. We have seen an alarming increase in disinformation and hate speech on several social media platforms in recent weeks, and X is certainly quite effective of that, the Commission said in a statement. A White House statement on Friday said that We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans.
The furor around Musks remark comes despite a Thursday post fromX CEOLinda Yaccarino noting that the social-media company has been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination, adding: Theres no place for it anywhere in the world its ugly and wrong. Full stop.