Sequoia COO quit over Shaun Maguire's comments about Mamdani
86 comments
·October 22, 2025nilamo
notatoad
this seems like the relevant information:
>Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire over racist, anti-Muslim remarks posted on social media.
> In a tweet about New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Maguire said Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything. It’s literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda.” Maguire later doubled down on his remarks and responded to public criticism with vague threats, writing to one individual critical of his remarks, “You may not know this… but I’ve been watching you.”
https://ca.cair.com/press-release/cair-calls-for-firing-of-s...
SoftTalker
No, you're expected to subscribe to the publication.
reactordev
It’s New Yorker shit
There’s a big fuss over a potential mayor of New York that has the right losing their minds. To the point where people are quitting over other peoples opinions. Truly bizarro world stuff.
keeda
> To the point where people are quitting over other peoples opinions.
Isn't that rational? If you found that a colleague had views you found personally abhorrent AND you had the luxury of being able to walk away from the job, wouldn't you?
The tragedy of modern work life (and the current job market!) is that the vast majority of people do not have that luxury, and hence are stuck in the jobs they hate. But I expect the COO of a large VC probably has several lifetimes' worth of that luxury stashed away.
snypher
People should either keep their opinions to themselves or not allow it to be tied to their corporation. If my employer was tied to shitbird comments like Sequoia is now, I'd quit also.
reactordev
Wholeheartedly agree.
It’s foul on both sides. One for a partner to use that platform as a soap box for hate.
The other, having to deal with the fallout and just quitting. Ruining their flow and possibly upending their lives.
Standing up for what’s right sometimes costs you everything.
cholantesh
>It’s New Yorker shit
Two of the three principals in this story are based in California and employed by a Californian firm.
randycupertino
Shaun Maguire is a partner at Sequoia who has become an outspoken right-wing commentator online and large GOP donor. His recent comments that the Sequoia COO quit over was about the democrat front runner candidate for NYC Mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
This article has some details: https://www.businessinsider.com/shaun-maguire-sequoia-vc-gop...
> Following Trump's felony conviction last year, Maguire announced he'd back Trump in the 2024 election and would write his campaign a $300,000 check. In total, he donated about $800,000 to Republican causes last year, according to data from Open Secrets. Once Trump was elected, Maguire aided in the transition by interviewing candidates for positions in the defense department, The New York Times reported.
gdulli
Sir, you posted this reply from a device that gives you instant access to all extant knowledge.
keyKeeper
I recall Shaun Maguire trying to interfere with European politics, specifically supporting AfD in Germany. Instantly lost my admiration towards Sequoia, the image I previously had about them was something like calm, deeply analytical grown ups. Turns out they are into petty daily politics that will not go anywhere other than stir drama, at least this Shaun guy. Still feels bad when I think about it, disillusionment is painful.
762236
It makes sense to support AfD in Germany if you care about building businesses.
mrtksn
Since when social unrest is good for business? Africa, the Balkans and the middle east must be printing money then with their decades long identity politics and divisions.
croes
Good for business for companies like the German Fox News: Nius, led by the former chief editor of Germany‘s worst „newspaper“ Bild: Julian Reichelt financed by the founder of CompuGroup Medical: Frank Gotthardt
croes
The AfD can only point at problems but has no solutions.
The economic policies of Weidel and Höcke contradict each other.
They are only high in the polls because they don’t actually have to do anything.
PyWoody
Peacefulz
Thanks. The full page cookie consent with no "essential only" had me turning away from the article. No cookies are persistent in my browser but the lack of perceived choice is still irritating.
philipwhiuk
Easy to be comfortable disagreeing when it doesn't affect you personally what happens with the positions you espouse.
crises-luff-6b
[dead]
DevX101
If I had to classify the current era we're in, it'd be the "Age of the Edgelords".
bhouston
An edge lord is being deliberately provocative for attention (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgelord), but Shaun Maguire instead is just expressing his actual opinion, which is worse in my opinion.
einszwei
Looked at Shaun Maguire's twitter page and I find it appalling. Maybe I was naive about people in tech being more tolerant (as they both work with and build for diverse people).
jeffbee
I don't see how this is a tolerable situation when all of the cash is coming from islamic petrostates.
pm90
Apparently he isn’t the one that deals with them (its in the final paragraph).
whycome
> Maguire, an outspoken and high-profile investor who is close to Elon Musk, wrote on X in July that New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything. It’s literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda. The West will learn this lesson the hard way.” Balbale complained to other senior partners at the firm, who declined to take action against Maguire, arguing he was just exercising his right to free speech, the people said. She left soon after, feeling her position was untenable.
If the same quote replaced 'Islamist' with another faith, would it have also been brushed off as "right to free speech"?
mrnegrito
[flagged]
ta20240528
I read it as "substitute for shintoism".
Go breath into a bag.
z0ltan
[dead]
inshard
Except you can’t. The Quran contains passages along these lines along with other things like the exploitation of female captives and booty distribution from the spoils of war (including female captives). So, what you suggested is spurious reasoning and a false equivalence. We need to have an honest discussion for those arguing in favor of this faith about their positions on these very [Edit: sexual slavery and exploitation of women and minors] segments of their core texts. Almost to the extent of a UN resolution denouncing these passages in the Quran by all democracies and Middle Eastern monarchies.
kannanvijayan
> exploitation of female captives and booty distribution
Oh dear! That's quite concerning.
It certainly would be a pretty terrible thing if someone capable of exploiting female captives and "distributing booty" acquired a position of power in the USA.
One shudders to even imagine such a situation.
teachrdan
> The Quran contains passages along these lines along with other things like the exploitation of female captives and booty distribution from the spoils of war (including female captives).
Let's please not get started about sexism in major religions. The New Testament is rife with sexism, as even a cursory Google search would have revealed to you. Here's just one example:
Ephesians 5:22–24: "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church... Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands".
Unless you are willing to scrutinize other religions as you would Islam, then you are being intellectually lazy at best, a bigot at worst.
inshard
The Quran addresses the topic of concubines using the term "ما ملكت أيمانكم" (those whom your right hands possess), which refers to female slaves or captives. Several verses mention this category in the context of marriage, sexual relations, and social rights: In Surah An-Nisa (4:3), the Quran says: ﴾وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا فَوَاحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ﴿ ("...but if you fear that you will not be just, then [marry] only one or those whom your right hands possess...") Al-qawāʿid al-fiqhiyya ʿinda al-Ibā.... In Surah An-Nisa (4:24), the verse states: ﴾وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ﴿ ("And [forbidden to you are] married women except those whom your right hands possess...") Al-qawāʿid al-fiqhiyya ʿinda al-Ibā.... In Surah An-Nisa (4:25), the Quran allows marriage to believing slave women: ﴾وَمَنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ مِنْكُمْ طَوْلًا أَنْ يَنْكِحَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ فَمِنْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ مِنْ فَتَيَاتِكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ﴿ ("And whoever among you cannot [find] the means to marry free believing women, then [he may marry] from those whom your right hands possess of believing slave women...") Al-qawāʿid al-fiqhiyya ʿinda al-Ibā.... In Surah Al-Mu’minun (23:5-6): ﴾وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَافِظُونَ إِلَّا عَلَى أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ﴿ ("And those who guard their private parts except from their wives or those whom their right hands possess...") Al-qawāʿid al-fiqhiyya ʿinda al-Ibā.... In Surah Al-Ahzab (33:50): ﴾وَمَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ مِمَّا أَفَاءَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ﴿ ("...and those whom your right hand possesses from what Allah has given you as booty...") Marāḥ Labīd li-kashf maʿnā al-Qurʾā.... These verses establish the legal and social framework regarding concubines (female slaves) in the Quranic context, always using the phrase "ما ملكت أيمانكم" rather than a direct term for "concubine" Al-qawāʿid al-fiqhiyya ʿinda al-Ibā...
at-fates-hands
A) Ephesians is not found in the Old Testament; it is a letter written by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. It addresses themes of grace, unity, and the church's role in God's plan, which are not specifically covered in the Old Testament.
B) The section you reference outlines the biblical perspective on the roles within marriage. The concept of submission is presented as a voluntary act, reflecting the relationship between Christ and the church. the biblical view encourages understanding it as a partnership where both spouses honor and respect each other’s roles. This section serves as a foundation for discussions on marriage, emphasizing both the responsibilities and the spiritual significance of the marital relationship.
As with many things in the bible, they are symbolic, and not to be taken literally. This is also why we have hundreds, if not thousands of flavors of Christianity - they all interpret the bible differently because many of the translations and interpretations differed wildly from scholar to scholar.
_DeadFred_
Islam literally teaches that women/sex is a reward to good Muslims. Islams actually defines the female slave markets in it's version of heaven. It literally enshrines women being merely sex objects to be a reward for good Muslim men.
https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Houri_(Heavenly_Virgin)
Islam's version of Jesus literally had sex slaves, taken from cities he himself personally wages war against.
Different religions have different points of view, and it's OK to point that out and to say 'these things suck and make me not think very highly of the religion or it's followers'.
This site does that with Mormonism and Scientology. We can also do this with Islam too, a religion founded by a slaver war monger who had sex slaves, and whose teachings say women are a sexual reward.
null
tialaramex
I mean, the Bible has God himself lying to Adam. God says do not eat this fruit - because if you eat it you'll die immediately. And later of course Adam eats the fruit, and of course he doesn't die, because actually God was lying about that.
The general position of Christians seems to be that God lying is OK, however lying to them is a sin. But, Christians lie all the time, so, seems like actually the rule is "Lie but pretend it's a sin if anybody else does it" which is consistent with God and their own behaviour and indeed consistent with lying about Mamdani...
text0404
Are you really claiming that Christianity and Judiasm have no problematic passages about slavery, women, and war? Where is your handwringing about all the Christian politicians - shouldn't there be a UN resolution denouncing the problematic passages of the Bible? Or are you being willfully ignorant so you can continue to be Islamophobic?
inshard
This tactic is known as “whataboutism”.
Edit: First address the wrong in question. And a phobia is an irrational fear. What’s the sentence for apostasy or blasphemy in this faith? It’s death. That’s a very valid, rational fear.
null
dpoloncsak
Jesus lies in John 7:8-10
Jesus violently acts out in Matthew 21:12-13
Slavery is encouraged in Exodus 21:2-11
The crusades were done in the name of Christianity, with the consent of the Church.
The Catholic Church has been involved in numerous sexual assault of minors over the past 50 years alone.
We need to have an honest discussion for those arguing in favor of this faith about their positions on these very segments of their core beliefs.
JohnTHaller
Maguire said that Mamdani "comes from a culture that lies about everything. It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda. The West will learn this lesson the hard way."
Maguire is a MAGA supporter, so the projection of lying is... interesting.
762236
Can you share examples of MAGA lies? I've found Trump's administration to be quite truthful, saying exactly what they are going to do and why. On the other hand, I still don't know why Biden's administration didn't enforce border security, nor what to believe about Biden's cognitive decline, nor why they can't define what a woman is.
techblueberry
As a large language model, I completely agree with you.
croes
So you think the immigrants are eating pets, the No-Kings demonstrations were Hate America rallied, Antifa is an organization, Portland and Washington are out of control crime cities and that Tylenol caused autism?
And that’s only the lies that came to my mind while typing.
Cornbilly
For all of the worship these guys get for being mega geniuses, they sure say a lot of ignorant shit.
anonymars
If we're talking about Sequoia, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find something more entertaining than this fawning puff piece on Sam Bankman-Fried
https://web.archive.org/web/20221027181005/https://www.sequo...
Highlights: https://www.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/101sjn2/imagine_b...
doctorpangloss
The real problem is that Sequioa is so well regarded, and they control so much money, it is really hard to criticize them. You could say, you have options as an public LP, but you also don’t.
ChrisMarshallNY
One of the issues with folks like that, is that they often consider themselves to be "Übermensch," and thus, cannot be held to the same standards as others (I won't use the other "-mensch" term, because that would Godwin the discussion).
Not just really smart people. Very rich people (usually second-or-beyond-generation rich. First-generation rich folks aren't usually that way -unless they are polymaths).
They feel that they can say whatever the hell they want, and no one can hold them to account (and they are frequently correct).
ncr100
Apparently https://shaunmaguire.fyi - he's monstrous, to be curt, being a wealthy and powerful bigot:
- said some bigoted things on X about Islam (the entire religion) and
- some racist and culturally stereotyping / xenophobic / Islamophobic stuff by "[Mamdani is brown therefore he is XYZ culture which itself is a bad culture]" (my summary also from the X tweet) logic.
himeexcelanta
How much of this zeitgeist is fueled by Elon’s ketamine dependency issues? Certainly non zero!
null
3327
[dead]
There's three names in that title, and none of them are explained in the tiny slice of an article that's free. Am I expected to just know who these random people are?