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\u2019s silence in the face of an ongoing campaign of federal brutality.<\/p>\n
The response within Apple to Cook\u2019s attendance of the \u201cMelania\u201d screening has been starkly negative, according to internal Slack logs reviewed by The Intercept. A link to an article from The Verge headlined<\/a> \u201cHere\u2019s Tim Cook hanging out with accused rapist Brett Ratner at the Melania screening\u201d drew a chorus of reactions, including dozens of vomiting emojis. The article prompted waves of dissent about both Cook and the company\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t leadership. This is an absence of leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n Cook has openly embraced Trump, particularly in his second term, attending the president\u2019s inauguration<\/a>, presenting him with an engraved golden trophy, and giving money to the White House to help construct the president\u2019s $300 million pet project ballroom.<\/p>\n The relative workplace calm may be over. \u201cI 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,\u201d wondered one employee.<\/p>\n Many workers claimed hypocrisy between Apple\u2019s longtime professed commitment to progressive values and causes and the extent to which its CEO has cozied up to the Trump administration. \u201cBut but but\u2026. we changed the Apple website to MLK last Monday, so that cancels out.\u201d Another pointed sarcastically to the company\u2019s recent announcement of Black History Month Apple Watch bands. \u201cWent to hang out with the guy who didn\u2019t even acknowledge MLK Day and took away park access on the day,\u201d commented one worker. \u201cSounds like an interesting documentary. Hopefully we\u2019ll hear more about it through a push notification in Apple Wallet,\u201d said another employee.<\/p>\n \u201cThree retail locations in the Twin Cities and not a peep.\u201d<\/p>\n Many others expressed dismay at the fact that Apple had yet to issue any statement about violence perpetrated by Customs and Border Protection agents, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as it has in the past following similar national traumas. In 2020, following the police murder of George Floyd<\/a>, Cook wrote an open letter<\/a> condemning his killing: \u201cWe can have no society worth celebrating unless we can guarantee freedom from fear for every person who gives this country their love, labor, and\u00a0life.\u201d<\/p>\n Late Tuesday, Cook issued a statement<\/a> expressing that he was \u201cheartbroken by the events in Minneapolis, and my prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families, with the communities, and with everyone that\u2019s been affected.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a time for deescalation. I believe America is strongest when we live up to our highest ideals, when we treat everyone with dignity and respect no matter who they are or where they\u2019re from, and when we embrace our shared humanity,\u201d Cook wrote. \u201cThis is something Apple has always advocated for. I had a good conversation with the president this week where I shared my views, and I appreciate his openness to engaging on issues that matter to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to the release of Cook\u2019s public statement, some staff called the company\u2019s silence was unacceptable. \u201cAs 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,\u201d wrote another worker. \u201cSilence on ICE violence speaks volumes.\u201d Another pointed out the \u201cThree retail locations in the Twin Cities and not a peep\u201d from Cook. \u201cThis isn\u2019t leadership. This is an absence of leadership.\u201d To which a colleague quickly countered: \u201cI disagree, this IS leadership. This is intentional, nobody travels to the white house by mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n An Apple employee who has spent decades at the company said they had noticed a marked cultural and political shift within Apple under Cook\u2019s tenure. \u201cA lot of people are talking about how Steve Jobs would have never given a gold bar to a politician,\u201d referring to the 24-karat gold trophy<\/a> Cook presented Trump at the White House in August.<\/p>\n \u201cTypically, 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,\u201d 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\u00a0violence at the hands of ICE and CBP as personal as anything the company has ever expressed sympathy over. \u201cThere 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\u2019re just getting things out quickly and pandering to fascists.\u201d<\/p>\n Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Internal debate differed on whether Cook should issue a statement internally, publicly, or both. \u201cWe aren\u2019t asking for Tim to make a private statement to employees,\u201d argued one worker. \u201cWe\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us. <\/p>\n Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n Thank You For Joining! <\/p>\n \n Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you. <\/p>\n Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?\n <\/p>\n By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some workers have argued that, while unpalatable, Cook\u2019s friendly relationship with the White House and silence on ICE or CBP is simply the job of the chief executive. The unpleasant reality of his fiduciary duty \u201cmeans he needs to pander to criminals who want to destroy our democracy in order to ward off tariffs that would tank iPhone sales,\u201d suggested one employee. \u201cFrom my perspective, he\u2019s choosing to take the hit to his reputation for the benefit of his employees, and for the customers that depend on our products and services,\u201d argued another Slack commenter. \u201cHe\u2019s truly in a tough position. An easy way out would have been to retire, but Tim doesn\u2019t strike me as someone that would take the easy way out. He\u2019s likely weighing the costs of every significant action.\u201d<\/p>\n Some pointed out that, from a purely self-interested public relations standpoint, the corporate silence was counterproductive. \u201cJust imagine for a second if Apple was the first big tech company to actually stand up for people\u2019s rights against the admin,\u201d wrote one. \u201cCan\u2019t think of a better PR move at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n A second Apple employee, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Intercept that the current dismay is without precedent. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen our internal Slack so busy with so many worried discussions going on at the same time on similar topics,\u201d they said. \u201cApple leadership used to be an inspiration for many of us due to the importance given to ethical products, but these days it feels more and more that the folks that are supposed to represent Apple\u2019s values wouldn\u2019t even pass the internal business conduct training that most employees have to attend.\u201d<\/p>\n
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