Elon Musk's Latest Actions Have the NFL on Edge and Sandy Hook Parents Enraged

By Dustin Rowles | Social Media | December 12, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Social Media | December 12, 2023 |

Over the weekend, Elon Musk apparently saw Alex Jones getting blitzed with Tucker Carlson and drunk dialing former CNN journalist Brian Stelter and felt a keen sense of FOMO, especially because Carlson had started his own streaming subscription service without X. Musk thus decided to put to a vote whether he should allow Alex Jones back on X, who had been permanently banned for — among other things — suggesting that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, a lie that prompted a defamation trial that eventually forced him into bankruptcy.

The voters overwhelmingly supported reinstating Alex Jones because the kind of people who remain on X are the same kind of people who might have been interested in the Spaces meeting over the weekend between Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Elon Musk, Andrew Tate, Matt Gaetz, and Vivek Ramaswamy (the latter of whom could be heard urinating during the conversation). Tucker Carlson also basically convinced Elon Musk to allow Infowars back onto the site, as well. Musk readily broke his vow of last year when he said he’d never allow Jones back on the site because he had “no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.”

David Wheeler, whose son was a first-grader murdered in the Sandy Hook massacre, said that allowing Jones back on the site made Musk a “sociopath” and the fact Elon reversed his position on Jones “based on the opinions of users and not his own convictions, tells me that he has no convictions.” Amen. Platformer’s Casey Newton is probably right, though: It won’t matter.

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Meanwhile, X hasn’t lost all of its major advertisers … yet. There’s still the NFL, which has a $100 million contract with X that runs out in April. The NFL sees itself in a bit of a bind here, not necessarily because the $100 million contract with X is useful for marketing but because not renewing it could alienate some of the NFL’s conservative viewers, who also use Twitter. However, continuing to be in bed with Elon Musk and X could also alienate the rest of the NFL’s viewers.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, had some advice for the NFL: “No responsible advertiser should be partnering with this promoter of hate speech, antisemitism, spreading fact-free conspiracy theories, and providing platforms for those who mock the suffering of parents of slaughtered innocent children,” he told CNN. “He needs advice, not advertising.”

Elon Musk could lash out at the NFL if they pull out, as he has with Bob Iger after Disney stopped advertising, but it’s unclear how much that will matter. Even the Bud Light boycott has cratered after Kid Rock said that he wants the brand to “thrive” again while the UFC and Dana White have entered into a $105 million a year marketing deal.

In lieu of a header photo of Elon Musk, here is one of Josh Allen — representing the NFL — because I like his harumph face in that photograph.