New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has slammed Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Board member and Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) co-founder Joe Gebbia for allegedly promoting racism targeting immigrants.
Promoting Racism Against Immigrants
In a post on the social media platform X on Thursday, Mamdani called out Mayoral race rival and former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate.
"It’s not just what Andrew Cuomo is saying—it’s who’s funding him," Mamdani said in the post. He attached screenshots of Gebbia allegedly reposting the purported messages targeting immigrants.
"The single largest donor to a pro-Cuomo SuperPAC is Airbnb cofounder/board member Joe Gebbia, who promotes vile and racist messages about immigrants," Mamdani wrote in his post.
Gebbia recently donated over $1 million each to Political Action Committees (PACs) Put NYC First Inc. and Defend NYC, both reported anti-Mamdani PACs, according to publicly available New York Government data. Gebbia has also been vocal about his criticism of Mamdani on social media.
Source: New York State Board of Elections
Bernie Sanders Criticizes Elon Musk, Zohran Mamdani Walks Back NYPD Criticism
The comments come as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) slammed Tesla CEO Elon Musk for supporting President Donald Trump, which Sanders thinks helped Musk become "$186 billion richer." He then pointed towards the wealth gap between average Americans and the billionaires. "How are YOU doing?" Sanders said in the post.
It's worth noting that Sanders had earlier also criticized Musk over the CEO's $1 trillion pay package, calling the compensation award "grossly" immoral. "No society can survive when one man becomes a trillionaire while the working class struggles to survive," Sanders said.
Meanwhile, Mamdani walked back criticism of the New York Police Department (NYPD). He had called the NYPD a "racist" and "wicked" organization in the past. "I apologize because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers. And I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day,” Mamdani said during a recent interview.
Elon Musk Defends CEO Compensation Award
Musk, meanwhile, has defended the CEO compensation award, highlighting that Tesla has become worth more than all of its automotive competitors with a market capitalization worth $1.4 trillion.
Musk also criticized proxy advisory firms International Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis for advising shareholders to vote against the pay package. Musk called the firms "corporate terrorists."
He has received support from the Board, with Chair Robyn Denholm urging investors to vote in favor of the pay packet as well as experts like Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, who said that Musk's pay package would "decisively" win the approval from investors.
Tesla's Mixed Bag Earnings
Tesla’s earnings report on Wednesday presented a mixed picture for investors, with the company’s reported $28.095 billion revenue exceeding Wall Street estimates. However, Tesla also missed the analyst consensus of $0.54 EPS, reporting $0.50 instead, which was a fourth-straight miss.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
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