Open letter signed by 800+ founders, VCs, and others: Sequoia must act after Shaun Maguire said Zohran Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything”
where the hell is Sequoia going to find a replacement for investing acumen like that? [embedded post] So Mayer / @suchmayer : #AltText the image is a tweet by Shaun Maguire, in which he says that Mamdani is an Islamist & implies that all Muslims are liars. — Sequoia are the lovely venture capitalists who partner with Israeli AI weapons mfrs & whose $1mil funding MUBI have taken. [embedded post] Jacob Silverman / @jacobsilverman.com : If you're not on the other bad site, you may've missed Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire calling Zohran Mamdani a lying Islamist (among other things). If you have worked with Maguire or Sequoia in any capacity and have thoughts about him or VCs and Palestine, please reach out for an article I'm writing. … Daniel / @justdaniel : Maguire, a venture capitalist, comes from a culture that lies about everything — It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances a funding round or increases shareholder value — The West is learning this lesson the hard way [image] Sarah Kite / @sarahkite : This bullshit below abt “all Muslims are liars” is the same stuff I heard venerated high school teachers spouting off regarding current events. Even at the time, I knew it was a load of racist propaganda & didn't fall for it — it only made me lose respect for the teachers & clock them as hatemongers [image] Cas Piancey / @cascoinfoundation.org : Shaun Maguire, the racist, idiotic Sequoia Capital partner, has been **nonstop posting** about Mamdani for THREE DAYS. — Shaun's job is to find investments. He lives in Los Angeles. X: Shaun Maguire / @shaunmmaguire : Mamdani comes from a culture that lies about everything It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda The West will learn this lesson the hard way [image] Shaun Maguire / @shaunmmaguire : Updated bio [image] Shaun Maguire / @shaunmmaguire : Dear Internet, This is why I called Zohran Mamdani an Islamist And as a reminder, Islamism is a political ideology like Communism It's not a race or religion, and only a small fraction of Muslims are Islamists [video] Nassim Nicholas Taleb / @nntaleb : “Comes from a culture that lies about everything” (Islam). I always suspected that Maguire @shawnmmaguire had intellectual defects (a combination of ignorance & poor analytical skills). I didn't realize he was thaaaaat stupid. Joe Lonsdale / @jtlonsdale : Nate S is okay with the repeated and overt anti-white racism from this candidate / it hasn't elicited a comment. But when Shaun highlights a pattern of bad behavior typical to Islamists - that CROSSED THE LINE for Nate's lefty sensibilities. Modern US lefts' brains are fried. @schwarz : “Mamdani comes from a culture that lies about everything,” says venture capitalist Shaun Maguire, who is so committed to a culture of honesty that he spent $300,000 to elect Donald Trump president. https://x.com/... Sam Haselby / @samhaselby : Mahmood Mamdani is a 100% secular political scientist. Maguire just lacks the common sense to be embarrassed about his ignorance and bigotry. Basharat Peer / @basharatpeer : @samhaselby @saadmohseni For all his money, Shaun Maguire doesn't seem to know how to read. And Mahmood Mamdani's books are many and way too brilliant and complex for him. Laura Loomer / @lauraloomer : Thank you @shaunmmaguire for being a voice of reason! I stand with you! You are speaking the truth! Ryan Selkis / @selkis_2028 : Hey @shaunmmaguire - Paul has a good verification process for his open letter. I'm sure your partners will be getting calls from Triumph, Hitler, and... @paulbiggar suffice it to say, I didn't sign this letter. [image] @signulll : interesting to watch people run the same old cancellation playbook on shaun. that strategy just doesn't hit the same anymore... we're definitively in a different media environment now. velocity of outrage is high, but stickiness is low. context fatigue is real. this is what it [image] Lakshya Jain / @lxeagle17 : There was a time when this would have gotten you fired. And I don't mean 2019 — I mean literally anytime before 2024. Fahad / @fahadhandle : @shaunmmaguire I've consistently warned you that your approach to all this will lead you down a dark road. Stop digging a hole and reflect. David Marcus / @davidmarcus : @JTLonsdale Suicidal empathy is real. @parikpatelcfa : @shaunmmaguire Brother I dislike Mamdani but this is a bad take Boaz Barak / @boazbaraktcs : I don't live in New York and don't care that their mayoral candidate lied about being Black in his college application. Certainly not biggest scandal by a politician or even by a politician in this race. But I do care about SV and this kind of racism against Muslims is Ouriel / @ourielohayon : @shaunmmaguire It feels like Lying is now becoming a rewarded skill Dilawar Syed / @dilawar : Silicon Valley was built by entrepreneurs of all backgrounds. @sequoia owes its success to them, including my early team @FreshworksInc. Disagree with a candidate's policies, fine. But this attack is Islamophobic. Tech leaders must speak out—we can't normalize bigotry. Pranesh Prakash / @pranesh : @steveplotnicki @samhaselby No. He's calling Prof. Mamdani an architect of ‘Islamism’ with socialist characteristics: https://x.com/... Maguire is just spectacularly ill-informed while being confident in his nonsensical assertions. Taimur / @taimurabdaal : I watched Shaun Maguire's 28-min video about why he thinks Zohran Mamdani is an Islamist There's almost nothing relating to Islamism in there! Shaun uses the term “Islamist” to smear people who criticise Israel and the US, and as a cover to safely disparage large groups of Haroon Choudery / @haroonchoudery : @shaunmmaguire you knew what you were doing when you used “culture” vaguely in your original tweet you're smart enough to have known how it would be interpreted, & had a plan in case your casual racism was called out you've used this playbook several times in the past year man, we're not @nivi : @shaunmmaguire You don't need to apologize to anybody. Nate Silver / @natesilver538 : Just a little casual racism from Silicon Valley's finest. Teddy Blank / @teddypowday : The radicalization of shaun maguire has radicalized me against the entire concept of venture capital Shaun Maguire / @shaunmmaguire : the crazy thing is tomorrow the journalists are going to count all of these as actual signatures 🤣🤣🤣 [image] Forums: r/technology : Tech founders call on Sequoia Capital to denounce VC Shaun Maguire's Mamdani comments See also Mediagazer