Defiant Elon Musk looms over, stands out from powerful media gathering in New York

NEW YORK — From the morning session until his interview capped a busy day, the specter of billionaire Elon Musk hung over the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday.

And from his leather jacket attire to his pugnacious rhetoric, he stood out dramatically from the conservatively dressed, carefully calibrated speakers that preceded him at the annual gathering of some of the world's biggest movers and shakers.

"There's a real weakness in wanting to be liked," Musk told moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin. "I don't have that."

Musk boasted the release of the Tesla Cybertruck would be the biggest launch on Earth this year. He grew reflective about his childhood and what drives him to success. He crudely shot down those trying to influence his running of X by pulling ads. He said he can't vote for President Biden. It was a fitting end to a day where he popped up in conversation throughout.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Israel President Isaac Herzog, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Disney CEO Bob Iger all addressed Musk in some capacity during the summit, showing how the X, SpaceX and Tesla CEO touches the worlds of politics, finance, media, foreign policy and entertainment, whether through his businesses or his social media utterings.

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Musk has been no stranger to controversy, as some companies have pulled advertising off of the platform recently over his social media postings around so-called "Pizzagate" and what critics called an endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Since then, Musk has met with Herzog and families of victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, and Herzog said Wednesday he applauded Musk's overture and called on him to not let X become a platform for antisemitism.

"He is a very influential and important leader in various fields of life," Herzog said Wednesday of their meeting. "I raised immediately our fear and our criticism about the issue of antisemitism and how it’s approached, especially the use of hate and antisemitism in various platforms including his. It was a very open and frank discussion."

"I do hope sincerely he will take a leading role in fighting antisemitism," Herzog added.

But Musk, who said he has "no problem being hated," said Wednesday at the conference that his trip to Israel was unrelated to the controversy over his post. He also apologized for emboldening antisemites and even acknowledged it might have been the most foolish of the tens of thousands of social media postings he's made over the years. He added that he was anything but antisemitic and explained he meant many Jewish people had a habit of supporting leftist organizations that were now openly supporting Hamas, the terrorist group that desires Israel's destruction.

Under Iger, Disney was one of several companies that pulled ads from X this month, and he said that while he respected Musk's accomplishments, he said his name and voice were "very much tied" to his companies.

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"We just felt that the association with that position and Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us," Iger said Wednesday.

Musk was less diplomatic when it came to addressing those who were pulling their advertising, likening it to a blackmail effort. He said he didn't want them to advertise, and then added, "Go f--- yourself."

"Go. F---. Yourself," he reiterated for good measure, as some in the elite crowd nervously chuckled. "Is that clear? I hope it is."

"Hey, Bob, if you're in the audience," Musk added.

"Investment banks currently sitting on billions in Twitter debt are likely not happy to hear Musk’s aggressive stance to advertisers who have left the platform. Advertising still makes up a majority of the company’s revenue," DealBook reporter Lauren Hirsch wrote in a live blog of the event.

The White House recently publicly rebuked Musk for an "abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate" that "runs against our core values as Americans." But asked about Musk on Wednesday, Vice President Harris didn't bite.

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"I have nothing to say about that at all. I don’t know him, I have nothing to say about it, but I’m not here to talk about people, I’m here to talk about issues," Harris said.

Dimon, whose bank sued Musk's Tesla company for $162 million in 2021 over a contract dispute, said of Musk, "He's obviously a brilliant human being and making unbelievable contributions to mankind. But he comes with pluses and minuses."

When JP Morgan's ongoing litigation was brought up, Dimon quipped it was a "small lawsuit."

Beyond the discussion of his recent controversies and penchant for social media drama, Musk said he had a philosophy of "curiosity" and desired for humans to be a "multi-planet species." He also said his groundbreaking work with SpaceX was about how he didn't want life to be simply about solving problems, but having something to look forward to each day.

At another point, he grew silent for a long period when Sorkin asked about his recent claim that his "mind is a storm." When Sorkin wondered if it was a "happy" storm, Musk said "no."

The annual DealBook conference in New York City showcases some of the most influential people in the world; in addition to Harris, Dimon and Iger, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, TV showrunner Shonda Rhimes and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan took the stage with Sorkin.

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Herzog and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen were also remotely interviewed by Sorkin at the event.