‘JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR RACISM:’ Elon Musk, Mark Cuban fight it out over DEI

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Billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Cuban fought it out over diversity, equity and inclusion after the Tesla CEO called the business practice “just another word for racism.”

The clash came after Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard University earlier this week, with many of her critics claiming she only got the job due to diversity, not her credentials.

“DEI is just another word for racism,” Musk posted on his social media site X. “Shame on anyone who uses it.”

He doubled down: “Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism.”

Cuban, however, took issue and put in his two cents on the value of DEI and went on to share five points about DEI and broke down why “good businesses look where others don’t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed.”

He added: “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. The loss of DEI-Phobic companies is my gain.”

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Following his lengthy argument, Cuban wrote, “If you don’t think there is a need for DEI and it doesn’t create a competitive advantage for your company, just look at the @x posts/replies/quotes below.”

The former Dallas Mavericks owner continued: “These are the same people that work for you or are your co-workers. Everyone is entitled to their POV, but these same feelings, even if they are not said out-loud, are heard loud and clear at work.”

The Shark Tank star summed it up by writing, “When companies do DEI well, you see a well run, successful company.”

Following Cuban’s posts, Musk responded cheekily: “Cool, so when should we expect to see a short white/Asian women on the Mavs?”

The two men were joined on X by fellow billionaire and Harvard alum Bill Ackman, who led the calls for Gay’s resignation over her handling of on-campus anti-Semitism following the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel by Hamas.

“That’s exactly what I thought until I did the work,” Ackman wrote, addressing Cuban’s argument.

“I encourage you to do the same and revert,” he said. “DEI is not about diversity, equity or inclusion. Trust me. I fell for the same trap you did.”

Musk replied: “Yup.”