WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is refusing to condemn Elon Musk ‘s post endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, maintaining Sunday that he wasn’t familiar with the post despite it prompting major companies to pull advertising from the billionaire’s X social media platform.“I did not see the comment,” DeSantis, the governor of Florida, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And so, I know that Elon has had a target on his back ever since he purchased Twitter because I think he’s taking it in a direction that a lot of people who are used to controlling the narrative don’t like.”
Musk has sparked outcry with a recent tweet responding to a user who accused Jews of hating white people and for professing a general indifference to antisemitism. “You have said the actual truth,” Musk tweeted in a reply Wednesday.
IBM, Disney and other major advertisers have since pulled funding from X, a major blow as the platform formerly known as Twitter tries to win back big brands and their ad dollars that constitute its main source of revenue.
DeSantis announced his presidential bid on Musk’s platform, even as some research shows it has become a haven for hate speech since the billionaire took over the company last year. “State of the Union” put Musk’s post on the screen and host Jake Tapper read it to DeSantis before pressing him to condemn it — but the governor continued to demur.
“I know you tried to read it. I have no idea what the context is,” said DeSantis, who was joining the show via videoconference . “I know Elon Musk. I have never seen him do anything. I think he’s a guy that believes in America. I have never seen him indulge in any of that. So it’s surprising, if that’s true, but I have not seen it. So I don’t want to sit there and pass judgment on the fly.”
The governor also said he opposes antisemitism “across the board,” no m …
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