--- title: "Jewish Leaders Call for Boycott After Elon Musk’s Nazi Salute, Holocaust Jokes" description: "Jewish leaders are pushing advertisers to drop Musk's hate speech incubator X-formerly-Twitter following his Nazi salutes and Holocaust jokes." date: "2025-02-04" modified: "2025-02-04" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/jewish-leaders-boycott-elon-musk-nazi-salute" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "antisemitism" - "elon musk" --- # Jewish Leaders Call for Boycott After Elon Musk’s Nazi Salute, Holocaust Jokes ![Jewish leaders are pushing advertisers to drop Musk's hate speech incubator X-formerly-Twitter following his Nazi salutes and Holocaust jokes.]() *\Image: ANGELA WEISS / AFP / Futurism\* After billionaire Elon Musk [performed not one but two Nazi salutes]() at president Donald Trump's inauguration, made [appalling jokes about the Holocaust](), and threw his [weight behind Germany's far-right political party](), Jewish leaders are pushing advertisers to drop Musk's in-shambles social network X-formerly-Twitter. As the [*Washington Post* reports](), more than 160 rabbis and activists have published a public letter calling the world's richest man an "urgent danger to Jews" and "one of the leading purveyors of antisemitism in the world." "When the world’s richest man combines political power with a platform that can mobilize hate, the danger becomes immediate and lethal," the letter reads. "We face a stark choice: stand up now or watch as hate spreads unchecked." The letter highlights Musk's worrying embrace of white supremacist and antisemitic beliefs, which have seemingly been sharpened by his own social media platform. Musk has a track record of antisemitism and racial animus against other groups. In 2023, Jewish leaders [wrote a strikingly similar letter to X advertisers]() after Musk outright called a deeply antisemitic tweet the "[actual truth]()." At the time, Musk [claimed]() that he had "no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League," threats that the billionaire never made good on. He also claimed — without giving a shred of evidence — that the ADL was to [blame for 60 percent of ad sales decline]() at X. Research has shown that his social media platform has [succumbed to a tidal wave of hate speech]() and antisemitism under his leadership, which has proliferated in a near-total absence of content moderation. Advertisers, which have long represented Twitter's main revenue stream, have had an [extremely rocky relationship]() with Musk's hate speech incubator. Many major brands [returned to the platform]() last fall, despite their ads appearing next to [posts celebrating Adolf Hitler]() and other instances of blatant hate speech. However, X-formerly-Twitter's financials are stagnating, as Musk admitted [himself in a recently leaked email](). "Our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we’re barely breaking even," he wrote in a January email, as [quoted by the *Wall Street Journal*](). Jewish leaders are seeing it as an opportunity to raise awareness. "To advertisers — including Google, Amazon, and the ADL: Pull your ads now," they warned in their latest letter. "The pressure is working. X's financial difficulties prove it." It's a sad state of affairs when the richest man in the world, who's currently [leading a financial coup on the US government](), has to be reminded that blatant public hatred could hurt his bottom line. However, it's ultimately up to advertisers whether they can afford to line the pockets of a man who has garnered a reputation for making racist claims and fuelling conspiracy theories. **More on Twitter:** *[In Leaked Email, Elon Musk Admits Defeat on Twitter]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()