Elon Musk declares war on Disney and Bob Iger

Last week it was the curse heard round the world. This week, it may be the posts that push Disney’s Bob Iger out of a job. 

When Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX, Tesla and X, was being interviewed at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Nov. 29, reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him about companies pulling their ads from his social media site. Disney, Apple, Coca-Cola, Warner Bros Discovery, Comcast and others have suspended their advertising on X after Musk reshared a post which came across to many as antisemitic.

Instead of responding in a contrite manner, Musk replied: 

“If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f ‑ ‑ ‑ yourself. Go. F‑ ‑ ‑. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” Musk then appeared to directly call out Disney CEO Bob Iger by adding, “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience. That’s how I feel.”

No matter which side of the Musk divide one is on, it is becoming clear that the mega-billionaire entrepreneur is now drawing deeper lines in the sand. To prove that point, Musk tripled down against Iger this week by firing multiple posts criticizing Disney and outright saying Iger “should be fired immediately.”

In response to the state of New Mexico suing Meta and Mark Zuckerberg for alleged child abuse content on the site, Musk said, “Crazy that Disney has to be sued to stop this terrible behavior.” Next, in response to a CNBC headline stating, “Facebook and Instagram content enabled child sexual abuse, trafficking: New Mexico lawsuit” Musk responded: “Why no advertiser boycott, Bob Iger? You are endorsing this material.” Just minutes before that, Musk had posted: “Bob Iger thinks it’s cool to advertise next to child exploitation material. Real stand up guy.” 

Also this week, while doing an interview regarding his new Cybertruck, Musk said with regard to the activism of Disney, “You have to wonder. What would Walt Disney think of the company that is his namesake today? I think Walt Disney is turning in his grave faster than a drill bit.”

In case anyone has any doubts, Musk has now openly declared rhetorical war on Iger and Disney. A fight Iger may soon wish he had never initiated.

While many on the left may now detest Musk for defending himself and his site, tens of millions are embracing this increasingly defiant Musk. They do so because they are convinced Musk represents the lone force in the nation and world standing up to globalists, cancel culture, woke CEOs and the left’s anti-capitalism and anti-freedom dictates.

To be sure, Iger is a very bright guy and should be smart and open-minded enough not to buy into the smearing of Musk. And yet.

To that very point, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who was at that Dealbook summit and listened to Iger go after Musk and X, posted: 

“If Bob Iger would carefully examine the facts, he would likely continue to advertise on X, but Disney caves to public pressure rather than do the right thing. Meanwhile Disney invests heavily on TikTok, likely alongside videos of kids teaching other teenagers to be anorexic and worse.”

But unfortunately for Iger — and the Disney stockholders — Iger may not be strong enough to fend off the bullying woke forces within his own company, which he helped to create and then enable.

Because of Musk’s celebrated showdown with Iger, consumers by the tens of thousands are loudly declaring that they are on “Team Musk” and have his back. As has been reported, thousands of Disney+ subscribers have not only cancelled the channel in solidarity but are posting all over X for others to join them.

Later during the Dealbook interview, Musk added to his reputation as a real-life superhero to millions: “I’m saying what I care about is the reality of goodness, not the perception of it. And what I see all over the place is people who care about looking good while doing evil.”

Like Alexander the Great, Musk is now burning his boats and leaving himself only one direction: forward into the fight. As he is proving with his increasing attacks on Iger and Disney, Musk will not go quietly into the night.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.