Neil Young is taking a stand against Elon Musk. On Monday (Nov. 20), the rock icon revealed that he will no longer be supporting X, formerly known as Twitter, and urged Palestinian and Jewish people to band together in light of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“We are stopping all use of X that we can control,” Young wrote in a statement posted to his website. “For reasons that should be obvious to the richest man on Earth, we are taking action against his company.” The post featured an image of Musk with the text “Tesla should fly flags of love, not hate” written over the billionaire’s face.
The statement continued, “For our many Palestinian friends and our many Jewish friends, we do need to start over in the present and release our terrible connections to the past. As bad as they are, they need to be forgotten so we can be free to move on in life together, all humanity, focused on saving our planet for future generations of all people.”
Young’s statement comes after the tech mogul approved of a Friday tweet that accused Jewish people facing antisemitism due to the Israel-Hammas war of furthering the “exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them” and supporting “hordes of minorities” to become immigrants. Musk replied, “You have said the actual truth.”
“It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said in response to Musk’s co-signing of the tweet.
On Sunday, Musk addressed his stance and explained “nothing could be further from the truth” with regards to him being antisemitic. “I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.”
Last month, Young announced that he’ll release a new album, titled Before and After, on Dec. 8. The album will feature fresh takes on Young’s favorite lesser-known tracks from his songwriting vault, per a press release. “The feeling is captured, not in pieces, but as a whole piece — designed to be listened to that way. This music presentation defies shuffling, digital organization, separation. Only for listening. That says it all,” Young wrote in a statement.
