Brands advertising on Pivot are being drawn into the backlash against Scott Galloway after the podcast host invoked executed Soviet spies while attacking Elon Musk. Critics circulated a list of advertisers and urged business leaders to examine their spending on the show. The controversy follows remarks in which Galloway branded Musk a traitor and compared his treatment with that of the Rosenbergs.
Galloway co-hosts Pivot with Kara Swisher, discussing technology, business, and politics. He also hosts The Prof G Pod, where he interviewed CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an Election Day episode released November 3rd, 2026. The clip circulating on X comes from that separate program, where Galloway brought up Musk during a discussion of Ukraine and American foreign policy.
The advertiser list appeared on November 6th through an X post by “litquidity”, which identified companies across technology, financial services, and consumer products. Its accompanying graphic ranked sponsors by the number of episodes in which their advertising had been identified. Harvey AI topped the displayed list, followed by Pega, with CoreWeave and Klaviyo tied behind them.
“List of brands that support the Pivot Podcast,” litquidity wrote. The account then accused Galloway of “publicly calling for the execution of an entrepreneur.” The graphic listed Harvey AI at 107 episodes, Pega at 97, and CoreWeave and Klaviyo at 77 each. Policygenius appeared at 55 episodes, followed by Zeta Global at 53.
Other recognizable names in the graphic included Quince, Upwork, BetterHelp, Anthropic, and Vanguard. The figures measure identified advertising appearances, rather than dollars spent or a company’s endorsement of a host’s comments. Ad Almanac’s tracking page lists matching figures for the leading advertisers and says its records draw on show notes and transcribed advertising reads. Its November 5th update covered 127 episodes, with sponsors identified in 122.
Mike Solana also directed criticism toward the businesses financing the program. In a November 6th post sharing the Galloway clip, he urged company leaders to question their advertising teams. “founders and executives, please check in with your marketing team today and ask them why they’re funding this.” His post shared The Vigilant Fox’s account of the exchange with Zakaria.
Watch Galloway’s remarks here:
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In the interview, Galloway introduced a hypothetical involving Charles Lindbergh controlling aircraft technology before America entered World War II. He compared that scenario with his allegation that Musk had restricted Starlink service affecting Ukraine. The transcript places the start of the exchange at 35 minutes and 39 seconds into the conversation, as Galloway moved from the wartime analogy to the Rosenbergs.
“We took the Rosenbergs and put them up against a wall and executed them for being traitors,” Galloway said in the excerpt shared by The Vigilant Fox. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by electrocution at Sing Sing on June 19th, 1953, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Galloway continued: “And I realize this is an incendiary statement, but I’ll make it and I believe it. I think Elon Musk is a traitor to the West.” He added: “If this had happened in any other age where we were not obsessed with innovators and money, a much different reaction would be playing out to Elon Musk.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.