Some 600 people, including tech founders and business leaders, have signed an open letter to venture firm Sequoia Capital after one of its partners, Shaun Maguire, posted what the group called a "deliberate, inflammatory attack" against New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, CNBC has reported.
Maguire, a strong backer of President Donald Trump, wrote on X over the weekend that Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary last month, "comes from a culture that lies about everything. It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda."
Maguire then posted a video explaining his comment, adding that "Islamism is a political ideology like Communism. It's not a race or religion, and only a small fraction of Muslims are Islamists."
Those signing the letter are demanding that by July 14 Sequoia, one of the largest and oldest global venture capital firms, condemn Maguire's remarks and apologize to Mamdani and Muslim tech founders. In addition, they are insisting that Sequoia authorize an independent probe of Maguire's behavior in the past two years and post "a zero-tolerance policy on hate speech and religious bigotry."
The letter said that if the firm does not give a response by that date, "we will proceed with broader public disclosure, media outreach and mobilizing our networks to ensure accountability."
The letter added that "as founders building the future of technology, we cannot accept leadership from a firm whose partners engage in hate speech and spread bigotry," according to Business Insider. "Maguire's conduct not only tarnishes Sequoia's reputation, it also undermines your ability to serve a global, diverse founder ecosystem."
Maguire wrote in a post about the letter, "You can try everything you want to silence me, but it will just embolden me."
On Tuesday Maguire sent another response, writing, "To the Haters and Losers, You cannot imagine how much Love and Support I've received over the last 48 hours. We have cancelled cancel culture. Your Hate and Ignorance only fuels me."
Among the signees of the letter are Mudassir Sheikha, CEO of ride-hailing service Careem, and Amr Awadallah, CEO of AI startup Vectara, CNBC reported.
Business Insider added that those signing the letter include some business leaders who have previously raised capital from Sequoia-linked funds — such as Hosam Arab, CEO of Dubai-based fintech Tabby; Hisham Al-Falih, CEO of Lean Technologies; and Ahmed Sabbah, co-founder of Egyptian payments company Telda.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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