*Mark Cuban and Elon Musk are sparring over their differing positions on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
As Forbes reports, Musk called the fellow billionaire a “racist” in a series of tweets on X/Twitter, for Cuban’s public support of DEI programs.
Musk suggests Cuban’s approval of DEI in the workforce is due to his “ridiculous overcompensation regarding racism” and “if mental gymnastics were an Olympic sport, Mark Cuban would be a perfect 10.”
The Tesla CEO also proposed a UFC-style cage match between himself and Cuban.
“Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism,” Musk, the owner of X, noted on the platform.
Let me help you out and give you my thoughts on DEI
1. Diversity
Good businesses look where others don’t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed.
You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various… https://t.co/L00fl6ggUD— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) January 3, 2024
Musk also asked Cuban, “… when should we expect to see a short white/Asian women on the Mavs?”
The Dallas Maverick’s owner unpacked his “thoughts on DEI” in a lengthy post on X/Twitter, writing, in part, that diversity is “Good businesses.”
“You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various races, ethnicities, orientation, etc that are regularly excluded from hiring consideration. By extending our hiring search to include them, we can find people that are more qualified,” Cuban added. “The loss of DEI-Phobic companies is my gain.”
“We live in a country with very diverse demographics. In this era where trust of businesses can be hard to come by, people tend to connect more easily to people who are like them. Having a workforce that is diverse and representative of your stakeholders is good for business,” Cuban’s post continued.
As The Wrap reports, Cuban said, “DEI does not mean you dont hire on merit. Of course you hire based on merit.”
Cool, so when should we expect to see a short white/Asian women on the Mavs?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 4, 2024
Cuban noted that diversity includes expanding “the possible pool of candidates as widely as you can. Once you have identified the candidates, you HIRE THE PERSON YOU BELIEVE IS THE BEST.”
“What makes the whole ‘what about the players’ comment ridiculous is that it’s presumes that all positions are hired based on some quantitative rather than subjective version of merit,” Cuban continued. “They aren’t.”
“DEI also does not mean you can’t fire someone if you made a mistake,” Cuban added.
“I wrote this on @x because I knew very well that almost everyone on here would disagree with me,” Cuban tweeted.
“I don’t virtue signal,” he wrote. “I want people to challenge my positions. I want to have engaging discussions that help me learn.”
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