Apple Workers Furious Over Tim Cook’s Viewing of “Melania” After CBP Incident
- Border Patrol officer gunned down Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti, Apple CEO tim Cook, donned his tuxedo to attend an exclusive screening of a new documentary about First Lady...
- The response within Apple to Cook’s attendance of the “Melania” screening has been starkly negative, according to internal Slack logs reviewed by The Intercept.
- Cook has openly embraced Trump, especially in his second term, attending the president’s inauguration,presenting him with an engraved golden trophy,and giving money to the White House to help...
Just hours after a U.S. Border Patrol officer gunned down Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti, Apple CEO tim Cook, donned his tuxedo to attend an exclusive screening of a new documentary about First Lady Melania Trump. A growing number of Apple workers are now internally criticizing Cook and the company’s silence in the face of an ongoing campaign of federal brutality.
The response within Apple to Cook’s attendance of the “Melania” screening has been starkly negative, according to internal Slack logs reviewed by The Intercept. A link to an article from The Verge headlined “Here’s Tim cook hanging out with accused rapist Brett Ratner at the Melania screening” drew a chorus of reactions,including dozens of vomiting emojis. The article prompted waves of dissent about both Cook and the company’s apparent unwillingness to condemn immigration-related violence across the united States. This level of internal anger is unusual at Apple, which has avoided the kind of political rancor that has swept rivals like Google and Microsoft.
“This isn’t leadership. This is an absence of leadership.”
Cook has openly embraced Trump, especially in his second term, attending the president’s inauguration,presenting him with an engraved golden trophy,and giving money to the White House to help construct the president’s $300 million pet project ballroom.
The relative workplace calm might potentially be over. “I hope we never find out, but I seriously started wondering what our leadership would do if an Apple employee was summarily executed by our government,” wondered one employee.
Many workers claimed hypocrisy between Apple’s longtime professed commitment to progressive values and causes and the extent to which its CEO has cozied up to the Trump administration. “But but but…. we changed the Apple website to MLK last Monday, so that cancels out.” Another pointed sarcastically to the company’s recent announcement of Black History Month Apple Watch bands. “Went to hang out with the guy who didn’t even acknowledge MLK Day and took away park access on the day,” commented one worker. “Sounds like an interesting documentary. Hopefully we’ll hear more about it through a push notification in Apple Wallet,” said another employee.
“Three retail locations in the Twin Cities and not a peep.”
Many others expressed dismay at the fact that Apple has yet to issue any statement about violence perpetrated by customs and Border Protection agents, and also Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as it has in the past following similar national traumas. In 2020, following the police murder of george Floyd,Cook wrote an open letter condemning his killing: “we can have no society worth celebrating unless we can guarantee freedom from fear for every person who gives this country their love, labor, and life.”
For some, the affront was personal. “As a lifelong Minnesotan and an Apple badged employee for over half my life I feel pretty abandoned by the company that has told me it stands for humanity more times than I can count,” wrote another worker. “Silence on ICE violence speaks volumes.” another pointed out the “Three retail locations in the Twin Cities and not a peep” from Cook. “This isn’t leadership. this is an absence of leadership.” To which a colleague quickly countered: “I disagree, this IS leadership.This is intentional, nobody travels to the white house by mistake.”
An apple employee who has spent decades at the company said they had noticed a marked cultural and political shift within Apple under Cook’s tenure. “A lot of people are talking about how Steve Jobs would have never given a gold bar to a politician,” referring to the 24-karat gold trophy Cook presented Trump at the White House in August.
“Typically, before the genocide in Gaza started, Tim would write an email about every major horrible event that would happen in support of workers at the company who might be related to those events,” said the employee, who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity. This worker said that Apple employs a large number of immigrants, making violence at the hands of ICE and CBP as personal as anything the company has ever expressed sympathy over. “There has been a dramatic shift in the way apple operates worldwide. Before they would focus on quality and design and doing the right thing, and now they’re just getting things out quickly and pandering to fascists.”
Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.
Internal debate has differed on whether Cook should issue a statement internally, publicly, or both. “We aren’t asking for Tim to make a private statement to employees,” argued one worker. “We’re asking him to take a stand for basic human rights and morals. or at the very least to not be seen smiling and hobnobbing with the people treading on these values on a constant basis.Oh and not openly bribing them with tacky gold bars that very very clearly violate the Business Conduct Training that we are all required to repeat on an annual basis.”