Arvind Krishna, the chairman and chief executive officer of IBM, is under fire after it appeared he admitted coercing employees to discriminate when hiring, going as far as threatening their bonuses.
A leaked video released by the O’Keefe Media Group on Monday showed Krishna speaking at an internal meeting which also included Paul Cormier, the chairman of Red Hat, a subsidiary of IBM, and Corporate Communications Director Allison Showalter.
“You got to move both forward by a percentage that leads to a plus on your bonus,” Krishna said, speaking about hiring Hispanics, “and by the way if you lose, you lose part of your bonus.”
“After pulling ads from X for ‘racism,’ IBM chief Arvind Krishna says he will fire, demote or strip bonuses from execs who don’t hire enough blacks, Hispanics — or hire too many Asians,” journalist James O’Keefe noted on X.
BREAKING LEAKED VIDEO: CEO of IBM @ArvindKrishna admits to using coercion to fire people and take away their bonuses unless they discriminate in the hiring process.
“You got to move both forward by a percentage that leads to a plus on your bonus,” Krishna said about hiring… pic.twitter.com/UUK26HX8IP
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 12, 2023
Though it is unclear when the meeting took place, the leaked video showed Krishna then addressing hiring black job applicants.
“Asians are not an underrepresented minority in tech in America…I’m not going to finesse this, for blacks we should try to get towards 13 percent,” he said.
O’Keefe noted that Cormier said in the video “that Red Hat has terminated people because they weren’t willing to engage in racial discrimination through hiring and promotion.”
“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act makes it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race in the workplace,” O’Keefe added.
The posted video caught the attention of X owner Elon Musk who responded after more explanatory posts from O’Keefe, “Extremely concerning and obviously illegal.”
Extremely concerning and obviously illegal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2023
“All of this comes on the heels of IBM canceling advertising on @elonmusk X platform just weeks ago,” O’Keefe noted, citing a statement from the company on its decision to pull ads, stating, “IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X.”
Babylon Bee owner Seth Dillon called out the company’s hypocrisy as well.
“IBM pulled their ads from X because they have ‘zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination.’ And yet their internal practice is to penalize people who don’t discriminate enough,” he wrote, prompting another response from Musk who wrote, “How ironic.”
How ironic
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2023
IBM was among a group of companies that detached their advertising on X following a so-called analysis by leftist Media Matters that claimed ads were positioned next to antisemitic material on X. Musk personally came under fire for what some regarded as antisemitic comments on the platform.
Musk minced no words in responding to the advertising blackmail.
Musk slaps companies pulling ads from X platform as form of blackmail: ‘Go f**k yourself’ https://t.co/TiJX410zLa via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) November 30, 2023
The leaked video posted by O’Keefe generated many responses on X as well.
Project Much IBM
— Ralynn (@Ralynn97966097) December 12, 2023
This is happening at every major corporation around the country. They literally get paid to discriminate against whites.
— AG (@Yolo304741) December 12, 2023
These are the people who are claiming to have the “moral high ground”???
OKAY
— Final Cut MI (@FinalCutTile) December 12, 2023
These people are brazenly and openly discriminating against Whites and Asians! Isn’t this sort of behavior criminal? Looks like IBM needs to get the Bud Light/Target treatment!
— Dan Dorsey (@dorsey_danno) December 12, 2023
If you think this was an isolated incident with one company, you’re probably wrong.
— Jimmy McCambridge (@JimmyMack0320) December 12, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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