Chamath Palihapitiya, the chairman of Virgin Galactic and CEO of Social Capital, doesn’t care in regards to the plight of Uyghurs—a Muslim-majority ethnic group that’s confronted persecution by the Chinese authorities. Numerous stories out of China have documented how the Uyghurs have been topic to forced abortions, systematic rape, torture, and internment in concentration camps. But Palihapitiya says “nobody” cares in regards to the Uyghurs, regardless of overwhelming proof on the contrary.

Palihapitiya, who’s reportedly value roughly $1.2 billion and is a co-owner of the Warriors basketball crew, made the feedback Saturday on his podcast, titled All In, which he co-hosts with tech trade veteran Jason Calacanis.

“Nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs,” Palihapitiya stated. “You bring it up because you really care, and I think it’s nice that you care. The rest of us don’t care.”

Palihapitiya, who has tried to model himself as a socially conscious investor, went on through the present to double down on his assertion that no one cares in regards to the Uyghurs, positioning himself as some form of sensible truth-teller who’s simply saying what everybody else is pondering.

“I’m just telling you a very hard, ugly truth. Of all the things that I care about, yes, it is below my line,” Palihapitiya stated.

Palihapitiya obtained appreciable blowback on social media after video of his feedback went viral on Twitter, however the billionaire’s response was one thing very in need of an apology.

Writing that, “Important issues deserve nuanced discussions,” Palihapitiya tweeted on Monday that he wished to offer some, “clarifying comments.”

In re-listening to this week’s podcast, I acknowledge that I come throughout as missing empathy. I acknowledge that solely. As a refugee, my household fled a rustic with its personal set of human rights points so that is one thing that may be very a lot part of my lived expertise. To be clear, my perception is that human rights matter, whether or not in China, the United States, or elsewhere. Full cease.

Palihapitiya’s household left Sri Lanka and settled in Canada when he was 5 years outdated and he moved to the U.S. after school. But, once more, his clarifying assertion mainly, “sorry if you got offended.”

The U.S. authorities has sanctioned many Chinese firms with ties to Xinjiang over human rights abuses, together with drone maker DJI, which has been added to a number of blacklists over its alleged involvement in surveillance of Uyghurs.

The Warriors launched an announcement on Monday distancing themselves from Palihapitiya and his callousness.

“As a limited investor who has no day-to-day operating functions with the Warriors, Mr. Palihapitiya does not speak on behalf of our franchise, and his views certainly don’t reflect those of our organization,” the NBA crew’s PR division stated in a tweet.

Virgin Galactic didn’t launch an announcement about Palihapitiya’s feedback and didn’t reply to a request for remark early Tuesday. While Palihapitiya remains to be the chairman of the corporate, he truly bought his complete private stake within the firm in March of final yr, totaling roughly $211 million in inventory. The billionaire stated it was for liquidity causes.

Virgin Galactic’s inventory is down roughly 68% since this time final yr, although there have been no allegations of insider buying and selling or claims that Palihapitiya did something improper. We’re positive he’s only a clever investor who performs by the principles.