Elon Musk Escalates Criticism of Disney CEO Over X Ad Boycott

In a second public rebuke, Elon Musk has intensified his criticism of Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, expressing outrage over Disney's participation in an advertising boycott of Musk's social media platform, X.

On X, Musk stated, “Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company,” and further called for Iger to be fired immediately. This follows Disney's decision, along with other companies, to pause ad spending on X after Musk endorsed antisemitic remarks on the platform. Notably, Disney was one of the largest advertisers on X.

Media analyst Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners commented on the situation, stating, “Advertisers have lots of choices of where to spend their marketing dollars, and Twitter/X is certainly not a must-advertise platform, it never has been.”

In a series of Thursday posts, Musk seemed to reference the box-office performance of recent Disney films, alleging that Iger "drops more bombs than a B-52." Disney declined to comment on Musk's remarks.

Musk also brought attention to a New Mexico lawsuit implicating Facebook and Instagram content in child sexual abuse and trafficking. On X, Musk questioned, “Why no advertiser boycott, Bob Eiger? You are endorsing this material!” It's worth noting that the misspelling of Iger’s last name was Musk's.

Musk's recent actions include suing the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America, which reported ads on X next to pro-Nazi content.

Despite Musk's claims of turning X into a free speech platform, the advertising boycott has made X a less desirable option for potential advertisers, according to Joshua Tucker, a professor of politics at New York University. Tucker remarked, “There's an interesting irony here that Musk, who claims to have bought Twitter to make it a free speech platform, is upset when others exercise their own free speech to distance themselves from his or his company’s actions.”