Megyn Kelly defended X owner Elon Musk against accusations that he was antisemitic while lashing out at the liberal watchdog group whose report prompted blue-chip companies to halt advertising on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“The vile, disgusting, dishonest Media Matters is trying to take down X and Elon Musk,” Kelly, the host of SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” wrote on her X page on Saturday.
Kelly accused Media Matters of a “hit job” against Musk, writing: “They cannot STAND the existence of even one platform that the hard left does not control.”
She added: “It’s important that X survive.”
Kelly’s critique was seconded by Musk, who called Media Matters “pure evil.”
Musk, who has threatened to slap the watchdog with a “thermonuclear lawsuit,” was responding on Monday to a post from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, who wrote that Media Matters was “created, shaped and governed for a long time by David Brock.”
Brock, a veteran Clinton operative, is “arguably the single most craven, deceitful and amoral scumbag DC politics has ever seen,” according to Greenwald.
The Post has sought comment from Media Matters.
Media Matters published a report on its web site last week which found that companies such as Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle and Xfinity had their ads placed next to pro-Nazi content.
The report, which came just days after Musk endorsed an X post that was widely condemned as antisemitic, led several companies such as IBM, Lions Gate Entertainment, Apple, Disney, Paramount Global, Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery to halt advertising on X.
X pushed back against Media Matters over the weekend, accusing the organization of having “completely misrepresented the real user experience…in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers.”
Joe Benarroch, a spokesperson for X, blasted Media Matters over the weekend. He accused the group of creating accounts and gaming the X server to create the impression that ads appear next to neo-Nazi content.
“To manipulate the public and advertisers, Media Matters created an alternate account and curated the posts and advertising appearing on the account’s timeline to misinform advertisers about the placement of their posts,” X said in a statement.
“Once they curated their feed, they repeatedly refreshed their timelines to find a rare instance of ads serving next to the content they chose to follow.”
Several right-wing influencers have pledged financial support for X in the wake of the scandal.
The high-profile influencers, including accused rapist Andrew Tate, have rushed to Musk’s defense with offers to buy more than $1.6 million worth of ads on X, according to Mashable.
That amount would be a drop in the bucket compared to the tens of millions companies like Apple spent before the iPhone maker announcing it was suspending advertising on X on Friday.
Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager, came to Musk’s defense over the weekend, writing that the X owner “is not an antisemite.”
“It is remarkable how quickly the world stands ready to attack Musk for his shoot from the hip commentary,” Ackman wrote.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
