Steve Bannon ribbed departing X CEO Linda Yaccarino on Wednesday, saying she was ditching Elon Musk’s platform because she can’t keep the billionaire “under control.”
On the Wednesday episode of his “Bannon’s WarRoom” podcast, the ex-Trump advisor mocked Yaccarino, saying she resigned from X earlier in the day to run away from upcoming lawsuits — without speculating further about what those lawsuits might be.
“Hey Linda, you can run, baby, but you can’t hide,” Bannon said. “You’re not going to hide from the lawsuits, girl. We know why you’re stepping down and why you’re running.”
Bannon — a vocal critic of the Tesla and SpaceX boss in recent months — also ripped X as a “scam” website and repeatedly called his nemesis “Elmo,” a nickname he has been using recently to mock Musk. On the Fourth of July, Bannon ripped Musk for his plan to launch a new political party, calling him “The foul, the buffoon, Elmo the Mook” who was looking to “smear” his former ally, President Trump.
On Wednesday, Bannon said Yaccarino was unable to keep Musk from running wild during her two years as the CEO of X.
“We understand why you are stepping down and why you’re running. That Elmo’s out of control. Sorry, baby, that came with the job,” Bannon said. “You took the job, you took the pay, you took the warrants, you took the stock options, you took all the hundreds of millions of dollars you’re going to make. No, if you can’t keep Elmo in the nursery and keep him under control, you’re going to pay a price. You are going to pay price.”
Bannon’s latest comments come after he and Musk have been trading verbal barbs. Musk said Bannon was named in the Epstein Files, and last week, Musk called Bannon a “fat, drunken slob.” Bannon, for his part, has called Musk an “illegal alien” from South Africa and called for President Trump to deport him.
Yaccarino announced she was leaving X on Wednesday morning, a day after the platform’s AI model, Grok, was spewing anti-Jewish and pro-Hitler comments.
One Wall Street analyst who spoke to TheWrap on Wednesday said it “isn’t a surprise” Yaccarino decided to leave X.
“She had a very hard job from the start that was made worse by some of Elon’s actions to limit content moderation and harass advertisers,” the analyst said.
Wedbush Analyst Dan Ives told TheWrap that Yaccarino “did a great job and was a key part of the foundation of X.” He added she “will be tough shoes to fill.”
Ives primarily covers Tesla, Musk’s electric car company. He has said he is bullish on the company’s future, thanks in large part to its self-driving technology and its Optimus robots. He drew the ire of Musk on Tuesday, though, with the world’s richest man telling Ives to “shut up” after he recommended Tesla’s board work to curb Musk’s political activity.
Mediaite was the first outlet to pickup Bannon’s latest comments about Musk on Wednesday.
