Apple executive apologises for ‘diversity’ remark

francisco — Apple’s VicePresident of Inclusion and Diversity Denise Young Smith has apologised for her controversial remark on diversity she made during the One Young World Summit in Colombia earier this week, a media report said.

At the event, Smith was explaining how Apple focuses on diversity and commented that there could be “twelve white blue-eyed blonde men in a room who are still diverse”.

“Diversity is the human experience. I get a little bit frustrated when diversity or the term diversity is tagged to the people of colour, or the women, or the LGBT,” Tech Crunch quoted her as saying.

“There can be 12 white blueeyed blonde men in a room and they are going to be diverse too because they’re going to bring a different life experience and life perspective to the conversation.”

The comment attracted criticism from diversity advocates and commentators she made during a panel discussion.

On Saturday, Smith sent an apology to her team members at Apple saying that “she understands why some were offended by her statement”. “Last week, while attending a summit in Bogota, I made some comments as part of a conversation on the many factors that contribute to diversity and inclusion. “I regret the choice of words I used to make this point. I understand why some people took offence. My comments were not representative of how I think about diversity,” she added. —