Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire slammed for racist jibe at Zohran Mamdani: ‘Comes from a culture that lies’

Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia, has faced backlash for a series of racist posts against Zohran Mamdani.

Published on: Jul 6, 2025, 07:39:01 IST

By Sanya Jain

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Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia, has faced backlash for a series of racist posts against Zohran Mamdani. Maguire is a well known name in Silicon Valley, having led or co-led Sequoia's investments in SpaceX, The Boring Company, and X. Before joining Sequoia, the tech investor was a partner at Google Ventures.

Partner at Sequoia Capital Shaun Maguire faces criticism for his racist posts on Zohran Mamdani. (AFP)

On Saturday, Maguire made a series of derogatory comments against Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City in the upcoming 2025 election. The comments did not focus on his policies but on his race and religion, sparking backlash against the tech investor.

What Shaun Maguire said about Zohran Mamdani

“Mamdani comes from a culture that lies about everything. It’s literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda,” Maguire posted on X. “The West will learn this lesson the hard way,” he added.

Zohran Mamdani is the son of Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani. If elected, he could become New York City’s first-ever Muslim mayor.

A New York Times report on Thursday also revealed that the 33-year-old checked a box claiming he was ‘Asian' but also ‘Black or African American’ when he applied to Columbia University in 2009.

Shaun Maguire faces criticism

The post drew widespread criticism on social media. “A partner at Sequoia outs himself as a full-on anti-Muslim bigot. Usually when smart people are racist, they try to be subtle. But

@shaunmmaguire is so lazy that he can't even be bothered to put some thought into his racism,” read one critical post on X among many other similar ones.

American statistician Nate Silver labelled it as “just a little casual racism from Silicon Valley's finest”.

Slammed for bringing Mamdani’s religion into the criticism, Maguire shared a clarification. He said that being Muslim does not equate to being an Islamist.

“People have lost the plot,” he said. “Islamist != to Muslim

“Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, The Taliban, The Ayatollahs in Iran, etc are Islamists

“Mamdani — a man who started an SJP chapter and defended Anwar al-Alawki — is an Islamist. He’s doing his best to hide this but it’s clear,” said the Silicon Valley investor.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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