After stunning the business world by telling any marketer pausing their advertising on X (formerly Twitter) over antisemitic content to “go f–k yourself,” Elon Musk closed the week by taking more swings.
19.11.2023 - 21:33 / variety.com
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor If movie and TV studios get nervous about advertising, so should everyone else. Advertisers loathe controversy, and often “pull” or “yank” their commercials from individual pieces of content that generate it.
But the studios have stiffer spines. They don’t run garden-variety commercials, but rather trailers and sneak previews of much-anticipated TV programs, and their target consumer is typically young men, who often don’t feel the outrage of advocacy groups eager to spur boycotts of a cable-news channel, a scripted series with a controversial star; or a reality program that offends.
Studios don’t often feel the need to stop running their ads, particularly when an opening weekend’s box office tally might be at stake. In 2018, when many advertisers suspended their support of comedian Samantha Bee’s “Full Frontal” on TBS following a joke she made about Ivanka Trump, then the daughter of the then-U.S.
President, Comcast ran a trailer for “Jurassic World” and the Epix cable network offered an ad for the series “Deep State.” The network’s parent company, WarnerMedia, ran an ad for the film “Ocean’s 8.” So when a host of big media companies including Disney, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros. Discovery revealed Friday night that they intended to “pause” advertising on X, the social-media outlet formerly known as Twitter, it was definitely cause for alarm.
After stunning the business world by telling any marketer pausing their advertising on X (formerly Twitter) over antisemitic content to “go f–k yourself,” Elon Musk closed the week by taking more swings.
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Linda Rene once proved instrumental in weaving blue-chip advertisers like Anheuser-Busch and General Motors into a fledgling CBS reality competition called “Survivor.” Two decades later, she is planning to get off the island. Rene, an advertising-sales veteran who has worked at CBS for more than four decades, helped expand an industry practice known as product placement and was pivotal in crafting new deals that not only had advertisers providing vehicles and beverages as set dressing, but weaving their products into a show in ways that made them as prominent as some of the cast members.
Elon Musk made plain his view of the widespread advertiser withdrawal this month from X, formerly Twitter.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X (formerly Twitter) says his opposition to President Biden in his re-election bid is mainly due to his bitterness over a White House snub in 2021.
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A visibly irate Elon Musk said advertisers who pulled spending from X/Twitter, following his post that endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory, were trying to “blackmail” the company and threatened to drive it into bankruptcy. Musk, currently the world’s wealthiest individual, had a message to big advertisers including Disney that halted spending on his social network: “Go fuck yourself… Go. Fuck.
Quake players in the world has confirmed Elon Musk’s claims that he once played with the game’s top-level competitors, though he “wasn’t very good”.In a podcast with computer scientist Lex Fridman, Elon Musk stated that he has a “lifetime of playing video games”. Musk then said that “at one point I was, you know, maybe one of the best Quake players in the world”, and mentioned that he “actually won money” in “the first paid esports tournament in the US.”Posters on X (formerly Twitter) doubted the claim, with many questioning whether Musk was simply trying to brag.
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The top executive of Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision defended the company’s recent decision to interview former President Donald Trump in a non-confrontational manner and suggested the media conglomerate was shifting some of its long-held political attitudes “We made a decision to adopt a strategy that is different than what some other major networks are using, which has been labeled as partisan,” said Wade Davis, CEO of the company and one of its financail architects, in a statement. Davis, a former Viacom CFO, purchased a majority stake in Univision in 2020, then merged it with Mexican TV provider Televisa in 2022. “Univision’s news strategy is one that is non-partisan and objective, and we serve our audience by being welcoming of competing issues, ideas, candidates and parties.
KISS‘ Gene Simmons and Neil Young have announced that they are quitting X, formerly known as Twitter, after Elon Musk appeared to endorse an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.Simmons did not specify exactly why he was leaving the social platform, but it’s likely due to Musk voicing his agreement with an anti-Semitic conspiracy that Jewish communities push “hatred against whites”, also known as the “great replacement” theory.Musk replied to a post making the claims and stated: “You have said the actual truth.”Simmons announced his departure by simply sharing: “Friends, I’ve decided to end my X/Twitter posting.”You have said the actual truth— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2023 Young announced his decision to leave the social platform on his website, sharing: “We are stopping all use of X we can control. For reasons that should be obvious to the richest man on Earth, we are taking this action against his company.”Alongside the text was a picture of Twitter boss Musk with the caption: “Teslas should fly flags of love – not hate.”The message continued: “For our many Palestinian friends and our many Jewish friends, we do need to start over in the present and release our terrible connections to the past.
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk, as promised, is hauling Media Matters into court — alleging the liberal watchdog group “knowingly and maliciously manufactured” images depicting neo-Nazi and white-nationalist posts on X next to major marketers’ ads. The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages, as well as an injunction requiring Media Matters to “immediately delete, take down or otherwise remove” the article titled “As Musk endorses antisemitic conspiracy theory, X has been placing ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content.” Media Matters reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is calling for users to stand by them after media companies pulled their ad dollars out over antisemitic posts being served next to advertisements on the network.
Despite Elon Musk’s vow to file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters the “split second” that courts opened today, the X/Twitter owner’s legal action has yet to materialize.
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After a spate of major advertisers said they were halting spending on X over owner Elon Musk’s support of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, the tech mogul said he plans to file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against a research group that had claimed to find ads on X/Twitter running against pro-Nazi and white nationalist posts. On Friday, Disney, Warner Bros.
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Disney has 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 venue’s owner, Elon Musk. A Lionsgate spokesperson said Friday that the entertainment company “has suspended advertising on X because of Elon Musk’s 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.
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor A group of blue-chip advertisers said they were pulling their promotions from the social-media outlet X in the wake of a recent anti-Semitic remark posted by the venue’s owner, Elon Musk. A Lionsgate spokesperson said Friday that the entertainment company “has suspended advertising on X because of Elon Musk’s 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.
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The White House condemned Elon Musk as promoting “antisemitic and racist hate” after the tech mogul endorsed a conspiracy theory that Jewish people “promote hatred against whites.” On Wednesday, Musk — CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X — agreed with an X user who promoted the conspiracy theory that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” In the now-removed post, the X user said they were “deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations” who are facing “hordes of minorities that support flooding their country.” In response to that, Musk commented, “You have said the actual truth.” In a statement released Friday, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust… We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans. We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities.” Reps for X and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Elon Musk is once again facing furor over one of his X/Twitter posts, this time when he agreed with a user’s comment that Jews have a “hatred against whites.”
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The newest surprise at Fox’s “Masked Singer” isn’t tied to an appearance by a mysterious celebrity. On Wednesday night, the popular reality-competition program will bring an advertiser into its format for the first time since launching in 2019.
Maryanne Trump Barry, Donald Trump’s older sister, passed away at age 86, as reported by outlets such as CNN and The New York Times. The former federal judge was found dead on November 13th at her Upper East Side home in Manhattan, according to the New York newspaper, citing sources close to the deceased.As reported by NBC, Maryanne was receiving palliative care at her residence in New York.
Elon Musk‘s life is getting the movie treatment from A24.
Elon Musk is in development, Variety has confirmed.Based on Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk, published in September, the movie is set to be directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream, The Whale).According to Variety, the competition surrounding adapting Issacson’s book on the polarising Tesla founder was significant, however it was film studio A24 (Midsommar, Hereditary) who will be producing the biopic.Musk, the founder of spacecraft manufacturing company, SpaceX, has recently faced criticism for the changes he has been implementing since taking over X (formerly Twitter). He is also the wealthiest person in the world currently, with an estimated worth of over $200billion.Isaacson authored several biographies, including that of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, which was adapted into the 2015 movie of the same name.