Elon Musk told advertisers who have halted spending on X due to his endorsement of an antisemitic post to “go fuck” themselves, deepening a rift between the billionaire and the companies that generate most of the social media platform’s revenue.

In a rollercoaster interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday, Musk said that a recent exodus of big brands — which included IBM, Apple, Walt Disney, Comcast and Warner Bros — was “going to kill the company, and the whole world will know the advertisers killed the company”.

But Musk, who bought X for $44bn in October 2022, dismissed the idea that he wanted the marketers to return. “If somebody is going to try to blackmail with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself,” he said. “Go. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear, I hope it is.”