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Shaun Maguire, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, has continued to target New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani—who he previously labeled an “Islamist”— after hundreds of tech industry founders condemned his actions as Islamaphobic.
Shaun Maguire sparked outrage by accusing Zohran Mamdani of being an "Islamist." (Photo by Brendan ... More
Maguire slammed Mamdani, who is of Indian descent and born in Uganda, for labeling himself “Asian” and “Black or African American” on a college application, stating Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything” to advance an “Islamist agenda.”
More than 800 tech founders representing more than 750 startups quickly penned an open letter denouncing Maguire’s comments as a “deliberate, inflammatory attack that promotes dangerous anti-Muslim stereotypes,” urging Maguire to apologize and Sequoia to investigate Maguire’s conduct.
Maguire has since doubled down on his “Islamist” comments and made a range of other attacks on Mamdani on social media, while decrying the open letter as an example of “cancel culture.”
In a 30-minute video posted to his X account, Maguire apologized for offending anyone and said he believes Islamists are a small fraction of Muslims, but still accused Mamdani of being a “left-wing Islamist” and alleged his father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani, is one of the “architects of left-wing Islamism,” citing their years-old tweets and his father’s scholarly papers.
In a follow-up tweet Monday, Maguire defended his “Islamist” accusation by stating Mamdani refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” (Mamdani has declined to condemn the phrase, which is derived from an Arabic word for uprising because he does not want to “police speech,” though some consider the phrase antisemitic).
In other tweets posted this week, Maguire continued to slam Mamdani as promoting “explicitly anti white policies,” alleging he “hates America,” while calling his father as “anti-America as you'll find.”
Maguire responded Tuesday morning to a post from far-right personality Mike Cernovich—who said Mamdani is “not an Islamist, he’s a race communist”—saying, “He can be both!”
Maguire is a partner at Sequoia Capital, a powerful venture capital firm that reportedly has over $85 billion in assets under management. Maguire has led Sequoia’s investments into high-profile companies including several founded by billionaire Elon Musk: xAI, Neuralink, SpaceX and The Boring Company, as well as social network X. Maguire is frequently vocal about politics on social media, and he is a prolific supporter of President Donald Trump. He said last year he donated $300,000 to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, and in recent weeks, has praised the Trump administration’s deportations and its attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Hisham Al-Falih, CEO of Lean Technologies, which raised money from Sequoia, told Bloomberg he does not endorse Mamdani but found Maguire’s comments to be “appalling,” telling Bloomberg his “His tweet was not only a sweeping and harmful generalization of Muslims, but part of a broader pattern of Islamophobic rhetoric that has no place in our industry.” The signatories to the petition, many of whom founded tech and AI firms supported by Sequoia, demanded a response from the firm by July 14, threatening to “proceed with broader public disclosure, media outreach and mobilizing our networks to ensure accountability.” The letter demands Sequoia publish a zero-tolerance policy on religious bigotry, establish a hotline to report discrimination by Sequoia personnel and denounce Maguire’s comments on Mamdani as hate speech.
Mamdani, who defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to secure the Democratic nomination for New York City’s mayoral election, has faced pushback from some billionaires and investors who oppose his plans to tax the wealthy. Billionaire Bill Ackman has led the push to defeat Mamdani in November’s general election. Ackman initially vowed to fund a “centrist” challenger to Mamdani, but he posted last week he would support incumbent Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, and urged Cuomo to drop his independent bid. Philippe Laffont, founder of hedge fund Coatue Management, told CNBC after Mamdani’s victory he believes wealthy residents and investors would leave New York if Mamdani wins the election.
After Mamdani’s Win, Some Democrats Are Determined to Stop Him (New York Times)