The insistence by U.S. President Donald Trump last week that his response to last week’s violence in Charlottesville remind Americans there were “very fine people” among all camps that were present — including the neo-Nazis, white supremacists and antifa agitators who were there — prompted an outpouring of support for the New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from some of the most prominent corporate executives in the United States.
James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox and the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, announced this week that he and his wife Kathryn will donate $1 million to the ADL, which he called “an extraordinary force for vigilance and strength in the face of bigotry.”
In an email sent to friends and quoted by Forbes, Murdoch wrote, “The presence of hate in our society was appallingly laid bare as we watched swastikas brandished on the streets of Charlottesville and acts of brutal terrorism and violence perpetrated by a racist mob. . . I can’t even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists. Democrats, Republicans, and others must all agree on this, and it compromises nothing for them to do so.”
Murdoch wasn’t the only one.
JPMorgan Chase pledged up to $2 million to anti-hate groups; $1 million is to be split between the ADL and the Southern Poverty Law Center “to further their work in tracking, exposing and fighting hate groups and other extremist organizations. In an internal email on Monday, JP Morgan’s Peter Scher, head of corporate responsibility at the bank and who runs its foundation, wrote “the events … reflect deep divisions across our country and compel us to redouble our efforts.”
The bank will also match employee contributions to the anti-hate groups up to another $1 million.
Last Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook also pledged a donation of $1 million to the ADL in a memo to the firm’s global employees. (Another million will go to the Southern Poverty Law Center.) Cook added that Apple will match employee contributions to the ADL or SPLC on a two-for-one basis through September 30.
Betsaida Alcantara, a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League told CNBC on Monday in an emailed statement that donations were also received last week from Uber, MGM Resorts and Bumble. In fact, last week online donations to the ADL increased six-fold versus the average for 2017, according to Alcantara, who said the amount of funds that were raised increased 1,000 percent.
“We are proud that the great majority of the individual online donations came from first-time donors,” Alcantara said.