The Washington Post created a video montage of some of the best late-night jokes surrounding the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was recently revised by the Indiana Legislature and Governor Mike Pence to explicitly protect members of the LGBT community from discrimination.
“The NCAA, Apple, and Yelp have all protested the law and have threatened not to expand their operations in Indiana,” Seth Meyers said on NBC’s The Late Night Show with Seth Meyers. “Also, Apple announced they’re leaving China and the NCAA announced they’re going to start paying student athletes… nah… I’m just f***ing with you.”
Read Tim Cook’s op-ed criticizing Indiana’s new law.
Under Meyers’ joke is a lingering truth about the hypocrisy that exists in such self-righteous statements from companies that do business in countries like China, where factory conditions are poor, or countries where being gay is actually illegal.
There is nothing wrong with company heads coming out against bills that opponents say could give some companies the legal justification for discriminating against members of the LGBT community or anyone. However, it comes off as a form of grandstanding because there is a level of hypocrisy to it, and there is no reason why these businesses should not be called out for this hypocrisy.
“When Tim Cook is upset about all the places that he does business because of the way they treat gays and women, he needs to withdraw from 90% of the markets that he’s in, including China and Saudi Arabia,” Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina recently said. “But I don’t hear him being upset about that.”
Read the full article from Business Insider here.
Image: Apple CEO Tim Cook / Source: ABC News