Tweet from powerful Silicon Valley VC exec. fuels anti-Muslim hate in NYC mayoral election

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In a recent tweet, Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, posted about New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani saying "Mamdani comes from a culture that lies about everything. It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda."

"Why is he saying that about any culture? That is inherently problematic. That is making a stereotype. That is making sweeping generalizations that is incredibly biased. It's racist," says Nadia Rahman, a political activist based in San Francisco.

Rahman says when someone like Maguire, a partner at one of Silicon Valley's most powerful venture capital firms, puts out a tweet like this which has over 5.5 million views since Tuesday afternoon, it normalizes hate.

"Someone who is in his role, and of his stature, sharing anti-Muslim, racist rhetoric, and not facing any consequences for his statements, normalizes those problematic ideas. And it gives permission for others to do the same," suggests Rahman.

Sequoia Capital has funded tech giants like Apple, YouTube and Nvidia.

In a rare rebuke, more than 900 tech founders sent an open letter to Sequoia Capital asking it to denounce Maguire's comments. The letter claims that Maguire has a documented pattern of anti-Muslim rhetoric over the past two years. The letter also states: "We cannot accept leadership from a firm whose partners engage in hate speech and spread bigotry."

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Sequoia Capital did not respond to a request for comment.

"I felt the need to make a video explaining why I posted this. I believe that Zohran Mamdani is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I don't think he is who the world thinks he is. I don't think he is only a socialist. I believe he is also an Islamist," Maguire said in a new post on X, a 30-minute-long rebuttal to the criticism he faced about his tweet.

Maguire, who states that he is Jewish in the video, apologized for offending anyone. He says he was trying to make a distinction between Muslims and Islamists, who he described as followers of Islamism, a "political ideology like Communism."

But Maguire says he won't back down. He continued to attack Mamdani, raising concerns over Mamdani's stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and attacked Mamdani's father's scholarship, who is a professor at Columbia University, accusing both men of being Muslim radicals.

Maguire concluded the video by saying, "(He) is using the same strategies as the Ayatollahs in Iran, leading to the revolution there. And that we are in for very, very serious chaos in American if we don't take these types of threats seriously."

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Maguire has his supporters, too. In a letter to Sequoia Capital, they praised Maguire, saying that they "commend his courageous stance on critical issues facing our industry and society."

But many are also raising concerns about the greater impact this can have on Silicon Valley.

Dilawar Syed spent three decades working in Silicon Valley and served as Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration in the Biden administration. He is calling out Maguire. He referred to Maguire's tweet as "Islamophobic," adding that tech leaders need to speak out as to not normalize bigotry.

"What I am concerned about is, if you are an entrepreneur today, and you have a great idea on starting a new business or breakthrough tech, would you feel comfortable, would you want to engage in this ecosystem, when you see this kind of divisive discourse online," says Syed. "You also want to see how the community responds to this when you have rhetoric that denigrates an entire culture, and entire people. So, I am concerned that we will not be able to maintain our competitive edge in the United States."

"This is a transformational moment with what's happing with AI. And all our focus needs to be how do we actually cultivate an environment where people feel comfortable, they feel supported. And we can go on and build amazing things and make our country more competitive," says Syed.