AIG CEO Robert Benmosch made a fool of himself the other day when he compared outrage over CEO bonuses to the lynching of blacks. Shortly afterward, Rep. Elijah Cummings called on Benmousch to resign for his words:
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called on AIG CEO Robert Benmosche to resign Tuesday afternoon over his comments about the lynching of black people. "As the leading critic of AIG’s lavish spending before and after its taxpayer funded bailout—and as the son of sharecroppers who actually experienced lynchings in their communities—I find it unbelievably appalling that Mr. Benmosche equates the violent repression of the African American people with congressional efforts to prevent the waste of taxpayer dollars," Cummings said in a statement.
"If these statements are true, I believe he has demonstrated a fundamental inability to lead this modern global company in a responsible manner—a company that exists today only because it was rescued by the American taxpayers—and that he should resign his position as CEO immediately.”
Benmosche is no stranger to saying stupid things in public. After his company received a massive bailout, he uttered these crazy thoughts.
Benmosche explained to CNN [10] that "the most important thing is that we've got to get companies to regulate themselves and to do the right thing.”
Sure thing, hoss. He never apologized for those words, but after he used lynching blacks to make his point, an apology seemed imminent.
The head of American International Group apologized Tuesday for his "poor choice of words" in comparing public outrage over excessive bonuses following the 2008 recession to lynchings that occurred in the Deep South a half a century ago.
"It was a poor choice of words. I never meant to offend anyone by it," CEO Robert Benmosche said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
Benmosche, whose company received an extensive public bailout by the Obama administration, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday that outrage in Washington was intended to "get everybody out there with their pitch forks and their hangman nooses" and that it was "just as bad and just as wrong" as lynchings in the South.
Stuff your apology. Now back to the news...
