Yellowhammer’s Cliff Sims unloaded on Apple CEO Tim Cook on Twitter Monday after Cook harshly criticized the State of Alabama for being “too slow on equality for the LGBT community.” Cook’s remarks were made during a speech following his induction into the Alabama Hall of Honor, a distinction he received alongside several other notable individuals, including Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Alabama head football coach Nick Saban.
“As a state, we took too long to take steps toward equality,” Cook told the crowd in the Old House Chamber of the Capitol. “We were too slow on equality for African-Americans. We were too slow on interracial marriage. And we are still too slow on equality for the LGBT community.”
In a series of Tweets, Sims blasted Cook for “swooping in” to criticize the Yellowhammer State, which Cook left behind long ago in favor of California. He also suggested that rather than lecturing the state’s citizens on how they should live, Cook could have a real impact by bringing more jobs to the state’s most impoverished areas.
.@tim_cook can get pub anytime, but chose a ceremony where he's being honored to lecture the state he left on how we should live. Low class.
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) October 27, 2014
.@tim_cook how about opening up an Apple factory in AL? Actually help some folks, instead of just swooping in to lecture us, then leaving.
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) October 28, 2014
Folks that brought something of value to AL: @Airbus, @MercedesBenz, @RemingtonArms @Honda, @Hyundai, @NASA. Folks that didn't: @tim_cook.
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) October 28, 2014
.@tim_cook, Alabama's black belt region has double-digit unemployment. Golden Dragon Copper Tubing brought jobs, you brought a speech. Thx.
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) October 28, 2014
Number of people's opinions that matter to us in Alabama: 4,802,740. People's opinions that don't: @tim_cook of Palo Alto, Calif.
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) October 28, 2014
An excerpt from Cook’s speech, which includes his remarks on LGBT rights in Alabama, can be seen in the video below.
