Shaun Maguire, a prominent venture capitalist and partner at Sequoia Capital, is facing intense backlash after making a series of inflammatory and racially charged comments aimed at Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic frontrunner in New York City’s 2025 mayoral race.
Maguire, known for spearheading Sequoia’s investments in SpaceX, The Boring Company, and X (formerly Twitter), previously held a senior role at Google Ventures. On Saturday, however, the investor made headlines for a very different reason: a public post on X (formerly Twitter) in which he launched a personal attack on Mamdani that many have condemned as Islamophobic.
What Maguire Posted
“Mamdani comes from a culture that lies about everything. It’s literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda,” Maguire wrote. “The West will learn this lesson the hard way.”
Critics were quick to point out that Maguire’s remarks focused not on Mamdani’s political platform but on his ethnicity and religion. Mamdani, a current New York State Assembly member, is the son of acclaimed Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani. If elected, he would become the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Widespread Backlash
Social media erupted in criticism, with many users denouncing Maguire’s remarks as bigoted and dangerous.
“A partner at Sequoia outs himself as a full-on anti-Muslim bigot,” one user wrote on X. “Usually when smart people are racist, they try to be subtle.”
Statistician Nate Silver added, “Just a little casual racism from Silicon Valley’s finest.”
The backlash also followed a New York Times report noting that Mamdani had identified as both “Asian” and “Black or African American” when applying to Columbia University in 2009—a detail some right-wing critics seized upon, further intensifying the controversy.
Maguire Attempts to Clarify
In response to the outcry, Maguire tried to draw a distinction between being Muslim and being “Islamist.”
“Islamist ≠ Muslim,” he wrote. “Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, The Taliban, The Ayatollahs in Iran, etc are Islamists.”
He accused Mamdani—who founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)—of being an “Islamist,” alleging he had once defended extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. However, no evidence has publicly surfaced supporting that claim.
Despite the clarification, critics argue Maguire’s rhetoric echoes long-standing anti-Muslim tropes and risks fueling Islamophobia at a time of heightened political tension.
Sequoia Capital has not yet released a public statement regarding the controversy.
