CUPERTINO, Calif. (KTVU) - Apple CEO Tim Cook said his Cupertino-based company would donate $2 million to anti-hate groups, releasing a staff memo that rebuked President Trump and others who claim a "moral equivalence" between white supremacists and the protesters who countered them in last week's deadly Virginia rally.
Cook sent a memo to employees Wednesday pledging the donations to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, USA Today reported. The Montgomery, Alabama based SPLC is one of the leading groups that track the rise of hate groups. Cook is an Alabama native.
"Hate is a cancer," Cook wrote to employees, according to an email he sent to BuzzFeed News, noting that Apple must be "unequivocal" about fighting and denouncing bigotry in all forms.
For its part, the Southern Poverty Law Center was thankful, BuzzFeed News reported.
“Apple has been at the forefront of the fight against hate in the tech industry and we are truly humbled by its support of our work.”
And Anti-Defamation League Executive Director Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted on Thursday, "Tim Cook, thank you for this incredible validation of the work" the ADL and Southern Poverty Law Center "do every day to combat hate."
Earlier this week. former Calfornia governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was donating $100,000 to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.