Musk Urges Firing of Disney CEO Bob Iger Amid Advertising Controversy

A brewing controversy involving tech mogul Elon Musk and Disney CEO Bob Iger has taken a bitter turn, with Musk publicly demanding Iger’s immediate termination.

The saga began when Disney, along with many other big companies, decided to pull its advertisements from Musk’s X, citing concerns over controversial content after Musk “endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory popular among White supremacists,” according to CNN. Musk, not one to shy away from public discourse, took to various platforms to express his dissatisfaction.

In a series of tweets and public statements, Musk criticized Iger, asserting that the Disney CEO should be fired after joining the advertising boycott of X. Musk’s comments, characterized by their blunt and confrontational nature, have ignited a heated debate within the business and media communities.

He began his attack on advertisers during an interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit last week. “Don’t advertise,” Musk said. “If someone’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go f**k yourself.” Now he is making it personal by going after Iger in particular.

According to The Guardian, Musk “accused Disney of advertising on other social media platforms that hosted controversial content,” specifically Meta, which has been sued for not doing enough to protect children on Instagram and Facebook. Per Business Insider, Attorney General Raúl Torrez of New Mexico said Meta’s sites aren’t “safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex.”

Musk’s demand for Iger’s firing has attracted widespread attention and speculation. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO claims that Iger’s leadership decisions are not in the best interest of Disney and its stakeholders, particularly in the context of the ongoing controversy surrounding X.

In response to pulling out of X advertisements, Iger stated, “We just felt that the association with… Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us,” according to CNN. And Disney is not the only company that has joined the boycott — IBM, Apple, Walmart have already suspended their advertising efforts.

Per CNN, the absence of major ad partners “has taken an enormous financial toll on X, which generates the vast majority of its revenue from advertising. Musk himself acknowledged at the DealBook Summit that the current dearth of major advertisers will likely lead to the death of his company.”

During his interview, Musk stated, “What this advertising boycott is going to do, it’s going to kill the company.”