In a recent episode of his show "Real Time," host Bill Maher criticized billionaire X owner Elon Musk for a controversial post he made last month. Maher, who had previously been supportive of Musk's takeover of the platform formerly known as Twitter, expressed disappointment with the tech tycoon's recent visit to Israel and questioned whether he still held "antisemitic or conspiratorial beliefs." However, "The Rubin Report" host Dave Rubin defended Musk, stating that he had never held such beliefs and suggesting that his post on X was meant for left-wing Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

During the discussion, Rubin asserted, "There's a lot of antisemites out there, but Elon Musk is not one of them." Maher responded by saying, "That may be true," but also criticized Musk for his tweet, stating that it looked "really antisemitic" when someone tweets something controversial and Musk responds with, "You've spoken the actual truth."

Musk has faced significant backlash in recent weeks for seemingly endorsing an antisemitic post on X. The post, made by a user, claimed that Jewish communities were promoting hate against whites while simultaneously claiming to be victims of such hatred themselves. Musk replied, "You have said the actual truth." He later clarified that he was referring to the ADL's progressive politics, accusing the organization of unfairly attacking the majority of the West despite their support for the Jewish people and Israel. However, critics accused him of antisemitism and criticized his social media platform for not cracking down on antisemitic content.

The controversy surrounding Musk's actions has had significant consequences for X, with major advertisers like IBM, Apple, Disney, Lionsgate, and Paramount pulling their ads from the platform. Media Matters, a liberal advocacy group, published a report alleging that these companies' ads were appearing alongside antisemitic content on X. In response, Musk filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, claiming that they had misrepresented the real user experience on the platform in order to mislead advertisers.

At The New York Times Dealbook Summit, Musk took a defiant stance against the companies that had boycotted X, saying, "Don't advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f- yourself... Go f- yourself, is that clear?" He specifically called out Disney CEO Bob Iger, who had defended his company's decision to no longer advertise on X.

It is worth noting that Maher had been highly supportive of Musk's acquisition of Twitter in the past, making his criticism of Musk's recent actions all the more significant.