Google removes diversity executive over antisemitic blog post
Kamau Bobb has been moved to a role focused on science and tech education.
Google reassigned one of the leaders of its diversity team after antisemitic comments from a blog post he had written in 2007 resurfaced earlier this week.
Kamau Bobb, the search giant's former global lead for diversity strategy and research, will now focus on work in science and technology education, the search giant said Thursday.
"We unequivocally condemn the past writings by a member of our diversity team that are causing deep offense and pain to members of our Jewish community and our LGBTQ+ community," a Google spokesperson said in a statement about Bobb's blog posts, which have since been deleted. "These writings are unquestionably hurtful. The author acknowledges this and has apologized."
It's unclear which posts about the LGBTQ+ community Google was referring to, but an archived version of Bobb's blog shows he had posted on the topic. Google didn't respond to a request for clarification.
Bobb didn't respond to a request for comment.
In a 2007 blog post titled "If I were a Jew," Bobb described how he thought Jewish people should feel about Israeli actions in Lebanon and Palestinian territories. "If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself," he wrote.
The blog post resurfaced earlier this week in the Washington Free Beacon.
Bobb apologized in a note sent to a Google employee resource group for Jewish staffers. "What I wrote crudely characterized the entire Jewish community," he wrote in an email, which was viewed by CNET. "What was intended as a critique of particular military action fed into antisemitic tropes and prejudice."