Musk used an appearance in New York to hit back at the growing number of advertisers opting to avoid the social platform to tell his advertisers to “go and f*ck themselves.”

The profane attack came in an on-stage interview at the New York Times' DealBook Summit. Musk likened the advertising boycott to blackmail and warned that the move could kill X. When asked about the companies that have pulled advertising, he said:

“I don't want them to advertise. If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money, go fuck yourself. Go. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear?”

In an aside directed at Disney's Bob Iger, he added: "Hey Bob, if you're in the audience, that's how I feel".

A video of the exchange has been widely shared, including by X's own Linda Yaccarino who described it as a "wide-ranging and candid" interview.

But while Musk says he doesn't want the money of the advertisers that have taken a stance, he also warned that the backlash could sink X: "What this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is going to kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company".

It will of course, have nothing to do with the fact that since he took over, Musk fired all the staff and allowed far right extremists to post. Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that he has been agreeing with discredited conspiracy theories and neo-Nazi posts.