Former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina on Thursday blasted Apple CEO Tim Cook’s opposition to Indiana’s religious freedom law as “hypocrisy.”
Fiorina, a potential 2016 GOP presidential contender, said Cook had a double standard and cited Apple’s operations in other countries with controversial laws about gays and women in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“When Tim Cook is upset about all the places that he does business because of the way they treat gays and women, he needs to withdraw from 90% of the markets that he’s in, including China and Saudi Arabia,” Fiorina argued. “But I don’t hear him being upset about that.”
{mosads}Fiorina said his stance exposed a “level of hypocrisy here that is really unfortunate.”
She added that Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act contained “nothing objectionable” and that Cook’s criticism stemmed from “narrow special interests” rather than reality.
“I think this is a ginned-up controversy by people who play identity politics that has divided the nation in a way that is really unhelpful,” Fiorina added.
Cook, who came out as gay last year, criticized the Indiana measure when it was signed into law last week. The CEO said it ran counter to Apple’s policies on tolerance.
“Apple is open for everyone,” he tweeted March 28. “We are deeply disappointed in Indiana’s new law.”
The bill’s supporters argue it is a necessary protection for businesses against government meddling in their faith-based decisions. But critics claim the legislation protects discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals.
Gov. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), another 2016 hopeful, signed the act on March 26.
It immediately sparked a backlash, with the Twitter hashtag #BoycottIndiana trending. A number of businesses, other state governments and celebrities also blacklisted the Hoosier State.
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Pence and state legislators were forced to backtrack, and on Thursday he signed a fix to the measure which now prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It also bars business owners from using the law as a defense if they refuse services to protected groups.
Salesforce, Twitter and Yelp are a few of the tech industry players that joined Apple in opposing the law’s original language.