- Title: Apple's Cook says he disagrees with Trump, vows donations to rights groups
- Date: 17th August 2017
- Summary: SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE-JUNE 6, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** APPLE CEO TIM COOK USING AUGMENTED REALITY APPLICATION ON AN IPAD COOK SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - SEPTEMBER 9, 2014) (REUTERS) APPLE CEO TIM COOK UNVEILING APPLE PAY
- Embargoed: 31st August 2017 11:21
- Keywords: Tump Tim Cook Apple CEO Charlottesville Alt left alt right both sides supremacy
- Location: INTERNET/ CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA/ NEW YORK, NEW YORK
- City: INTERNET/ CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA/ NEW YORK, NEW YORK
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016UJOJLZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook has joined a chorus of business leaders who have voiced their opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump after he blamed white nationalists and anti-racism activists equally for violence in Virginia over the weekend.
"I disagree with the president and others who believe that there is a moral equivalence between white supremacists and Nazis, and those who oppose them by standing up for human rights. Equating the two runs counter to our ideals as Americans," Cook wrote in a note late on Wednesday (August 16) to employees, according to technology news website Recode. Earlier in the week Cook went to social media to tweet his condemnation of the "the terror of white supremacy & racist violence."
Cook also said in the letter that Apple will donate $1 million apiece to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League and will match two-for-one their donations to the organizations and other human rights groups until Sept. 30.
Cook's letter came hours after Trump disbanded two high-profile business advisory councils as several chief executives quit in protest over his remarks blaming weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia on anti-racism activists as well as white nationalists that left a 32-year-old woman dead.
Earlier on Wednesday, the company was disabling Apple Pay on several websites that sell attire and items in support of white nationalists and hate groups, several tech news websites reported. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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