Neil Young at a concert in 2019.
Photo: Getty Images for Shock Ink, Gary Miller. All rights reserved.
Neil Young withdraws from the platform in protest against X owner Elon Musk. The reason for this is an anti-Semitic tweet that Musk supported with a comment. The musician released a statement about the withdrawal on his website. In it he strongly condemned X and called for the spread of hatred to be stopped:
“We are stopping any use of X that we can control. For reasons that should be clear to the richest man in the world, we are taking this action against his company. Teslas should fly flags of love – not hate.”
In addition to the “Harvest Moon” singer, a number of major companies also boycotted X, including Disney, Apple, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery. All in the wake of Musk’s tweet. In this one, an Musk commented below and explained that the user would say “the real truth”.
In response to the protests, X CEO Linda Yaccarino issued a statement speaking out against discrimination and anti-Semitism: “X’s position has always been very clear that discrimination by anyone should STOP in general… X has also made it very clear , how hard we strive to combat anti-Semitism and discrimination. […]“
This isn’t the first time Neil Young has pulled out of a platform. In 2022, the singer deleted his music from Spotify to protest against Joe Rogan and his anti-vaccination rhetoric that the streamer put on his platform.