(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Businessman Mark Cuban and Sean Ono Lennon, the son of the late musician John Lennon, set Twitter ablaze due to their strikingly differing views on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), a contentious hiring practice that prioritizes minority individuals.
The contentious dueling posts of Cuban and Lennon began during discussions on hiring practices, particularly following Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation over anti-Semitism and plagiarism scandals. Notably, Harvard faced accusations of hiring Gay only because of her race.
“Have you guys heard of DEI? It stands for ‘Dumb Evil Idiots,’” said Lennon in a since-deleted post, addressing a supportive Twitter audience.
In contrast, Cuban expressed support for DEI in several tweets, countering Elon Musk’s and Lennon’s anti-DEI stance by highlighting diversity’s alleged positive impact on business.
“Having a workforce that is diverse and representative of your stakeholders is good for business,” he stated, despite a seemingly disapproving response from some.
Let me help you out and give you my thoughts on DEI
1. Diversity
Good businesses look where others don’t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed.
You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various… https://t.co/L00fl6ggUD— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) January 3, 2024
Cuban further dubbed equity as a “core principle of business” in a follow-up post. “Put your employees in a position to succeed. Recognize their differences and play to their strengths where ever [sic] possible. It is not a hard concept. But it is not easy to implement,” he claimed.
Lennon, in a separate post on Jan. 3, criticized DEI, arguing that its implementation leads to “institutional racism.” He suggested that excluding non-diverse individuals in hiring or other selection practices constitutes racism.
“To make a long story short: the people who claim to be fighting ‘institutional racism’ are doing so by creating institutional racism. (And absolutely no one should be surprised by this.)” Lennon tweeted in response to Harvard donor Bill Ackman’s rebuke of ex-President Gay.
Lennon further commented, “And you can also supplant the word ‘racism’s with ‘oppression.’ It’s both.”
And you can also supplant the word ‘racism’s with ‘oppression.’ It’s both.
— Seán Ono Lennon (@seanonolennon) January 3, 2024
The DEI debate gained traction on Twitter amid accusations that Harvard’s hiring of Gay was solely based on her race.
Gay resigned six months into her tenure after refusing to condemn the genocide of Jews during a congressional hearing. Subsequently, she faced allegations of plagiarizing sentences from other academics in her dissertation.
