Salesforce workers outraged after CEO makes joke about ICE watching them | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
Salesforce CEO and co-founder Marc Benioff is facing mounting criticism for a joke he made during an event for the company about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) monitoring international workers.
Employees publicly expressed anger over Benioff’s comments in his opening remarks at an internal conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, and leaders at Salesforce-owned Slack said Benioff should apologize.
Benioff asked international employees to stand up before joking that ICE agents were there and watching, prompting boos from the crowd, several employees told media outlets, including. wired And 404Media. A recording of his conversation, posted on an internal Salesforce site, was edited to cut out his remarks about ICE. Business Content reported.
The incident killed hundreds of Salesforce employees. reportedly plan Urging Benioff to report ICE and cancel future dealings with the agency, Wired and CNBC reported.
Like other billionaires, Benioff’s politics appear to have taken a marked turn during Trump’s second term. He has been closely associated with some liberal causes over the years, including a 2018 measure to tax major corporations in the city to fund homeless services in San Francisco, and criticized billionaires for “hoarding” their wealth in an interview with the Guardian.
Benioff last fall said The New York Times “fully supported” the president and said Trump should have sent national guard troops to San Francisco before apologizing and pushing back on those comments. His company, which has a long-standing contract with ICE, is looking for ways to increase its business with the agency.
He now faces anger from his own company and others with ties to Salesforce for his recent jokes about international workers and ICE, as well as his remarks about not understanding Bad Bunny’s recent Super Bowl performance. Employees condemned his comments on Slack and LinkedIn.
Salesforce employee Farone Rasheed, wrote on the network site: “I fear for my friends and colleagues on my team who are here on international visas… I am shocked, angry, saddened, and frustrated by the views espoused by Salesforce leadership this week. I’m sharing this here because, quite frankly, I fear retaliation for this.”
Rob Seaman, general manager of Slack, said: critical Benioff’s comments in an internal message, according to Business Insider.
“I would like to acknowledge the pranks that occurred at CKO this morning,” Seaman wrote, according to the publication. “I cannot defend or explain these things. They do not align with my personal values, and I know the same is true for many of you.”
Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
