Netflix has resumed advertising on X following a suspension by the streamer and other brands after Elon Musk was met with intense backlash for promoting and agreeing with a post that glorified an antisemitic conspiracy theory, TheWrap has learned.
The New York Times reported last month that Netflix halted nearly $3 million worth of ads, citing X estimates. But TheWrap has come across posts by Netflix advertising its films “Maestro” and “May December.”
When asked for comment, an X spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap that Netflix has resumed advertising on the platform. Representatives for Netflix did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
On Nov. 15, Musk endorsed a verified account named @breakingbaht, which wrote, “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” He responded to the post, writing, “You have said the actual truth.”
The “actual truth” tweet came in conjunction with a Media Matters report that found X not adhering to agreed-upon brand safety measures for advertisers’ content. It found the social media platform placing its ads alongside content that “touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party,” prompting multiple brands to suspend their advertising, including Disney, Paramount, Apple, Sony and Lionsgate.
On Nov. 16, X CEO Linda Yaccarino responded to the controversy, tweeting that “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should stop across the board — I think that’s something we can and should all agree on.”
“When it comes to this platform — X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong,” she wrote. “Full stop.”
The following day, Musk called advertisers the “greatest oppressors of your right to free speech.” He proceeded to file a lawsuit against Media Matters on Nov. 20.
During the Times’ DealBook Summit on Nov. 29, Musk told advertisers who suspended ad buys to “go f–k yourself.”
“If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money. Go f–k yourself,” he said.
But he also apologized, saying that he “handed a loaded gun to those who hate me, and arguably to those who are antisemitic.”
“For that I’m quite sorry. That was not my intention,” he continued. “I should in retrospect not have replied to that particular post.”
Musk maintained that his agreement was largely taken out of context and “subsequently clarified in replies, but those clarifications were ignored by the media.” He added that a trip to Israel and meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not “an apology tour” for the post and other widely publicized instances of antisemitism at X.
The New York Times has estimated that X could lose as much as $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year due to the suspensions.
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