Billionaire Elon Musk in a heated interview with the New York Times on Wednesday told advertisers who left his social media platform X because of anti-Semitic content to “go to hell,” Reuters reported.

His profanity-laced remarks followed a heated backlash in an interview at the DealBook Summit in the New York Times, when Musk initially said he was “sorry” for a tweet in which he agreed with an anti-Semitic post.

Musk came under fire after on November 15 he agreed with a user who falsely claimed that Jews were inciting hatred against white people, saying that the user who mentioned the conspiracy theory about the “Great Change” was telling the “real truth”.

On Wednesday, Musk said he had “fired a loaded gun” at his detractors, describing his post as “possibly the worst” in the history of his “stupid” posts.

Tesla’s CEO seemed annoyed at the idea that he would be anti-Semitic and said that advertisers who left X, formerly known as Twitter, shouldn’t think they can blackmail him by saying “go to hell” again.

At one point, he added the words “Hi Bob,” an apparent reference to Robert Iger, the Walt Disney executive who pulled his ad from X.

The “Great Replacement” theory states that Jews and leftists would promote the ethnic and cultural replacement of the white population by non-white immigrants, resulting in “white genocide.”

Musk’s post was condemned by the White House for what it called “disgusting propaganda of anti-Semitic and racist hatred.”

Following publication, major US companies including Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Comcast suspended advertising on X.

A report by the liberal watchdog group Media Matters precipitated the exodus of advertisers, saying they found ads next to posts endorsing Nazism. The platform filed a defamation lawsuit against Media Matters last week.

A visit to Israel and a change of language

After the public condemnation, Musk traveled to Israel and visited the site of the October 7 attack by Hamas on the country. On Monday, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a conversation broadcast live on X.

On Wednesday, Musk said the trip was planned before his announcement and was “independent” of the issue.

In Israel, Musk said he is against anti-Semitism and anything that “promotes hatred and conflict” and said X will not promote hate speech.

“The fact that you came here speaks volumes about your commitment to trying to secure a better future,” Netanyahu told Musk during the conversation.

The pair previously met at Tesla’s headquarters in California in September to discuss the benefits and dangers of advanced artificial intelligence.

In the conversation, which came shortly after Musk attacked the Anti-Defamation League, Netanyahu urged the billionaire to strike a balance between protecting free speech online and fighting hate speech.