NEW DELHI: World's richest man Elon Musk and Shark Tank fame and NBA's Dallas Mavericks owner
Mark Cuban
engaged in a heated exchange over the issue of
Diversity
, Equality, and Inclusion (
DEI
) initiatives in American corporations.
The war if words started when Musk criticized DEI, labeling it as 'literally the definition of
racism
.'
Cuban quickly responded, offering his perspective on DEI and said, "Let me help you out and give you my thoughts on DEI."
"You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various races, ethnicities, orientation, etc that are regularly excluded from hiring consideration.
By extending our hiring search to include them, we can find people that are more qualified," he added.
In a counterattack, Musk questioned when the Mavericks would have a 'short white/Asian woman' on their team.
Cuban shared a link to an ESPN story from April 2013 about Brittney Griner, a 2-time gold medalist with the US women's national basketball team.
Musk later commented that ‘if merit for a given job is roughly the same, then the tiebreaker should be diversity (of all kinds).’
The online clash between Musk and Cuban was triggered by an essay written by Bill Ackman. In the essay, the hedge fund tycoon and Harvard University donor voiced his opposition to DEI, stating that it should be challenged. This essay followed the resignation of Claudine Gay, Harvard's first Black President, with critics arguing that she obtained the position due to the institute's emphasis on diversity rather than merit or credentials.
English (US) ·