Trailblazer Elon Musk pushes a profane new frontier
(Please note strong language in paragraphs 2, 7)
By Ross Kerber
(Reuters) — Elon Musk is keen to achieve what no business leader has done before, from mass-producing electric cars to developing reusable space rockets. Now he is blazing another trail most chief executives have avoided: the profane insult.
The Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO told advertisers who have fled his social media platform X over antisemitic content to «Go fuck yourself!» in an interview on Wednesday.
Several business communications analysts said they couldn't remember a similar case of an executive publicly cursing at their customers. The job of a CEO is to do deals, not burn bridges, they said.
«It's openly attacking your customer. That's more the offense than the language itself,» said Andy Challenger, senior vice president of outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.
Musk, Tesla and X did not respond to requests for comment.
Cases of business leaders using crude language — sometimes for emphasis, sometimes to show informality — turn up on various corporate earnings calls. Last year, the CEO of European airline Ryanair Michael O'Leary lashed out at planemaker Boeing (NYSE:BA) over lagging deliveries.
In 2018, Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn offered a blue rant about a business unit including that «those bastards are gun-shy as shit right now,» according to a recording. Newspaper owner Sam Zell famously told one of his own journalists «fuck you» in an exchange in 2008.
The context of Musk's comment was different, however, as he was questioned about the departure of advertisers from X following his endorsement of an antisemitic post. Musk apologized for it and then cursed and dismissed the concerns of the advertisers
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