Uber CEO on Saudi Arabia's killing of Jamal Khashoggi: "It's a serious mistake. We've made mistakes too, right, with self-driving … So I think that people make mistakes. It doesn't mean that they can never be forgiven" pic.twitter.com/EvinRrh3SE
— BNO News (@BNONews) November 11, 2019
Uber is significantly backed by Saudi investments and the country's sovereign wealth fund controls a seat on its board. In this video, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is asked by Axios's Dan Primack about the Saudi regime's murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S.-based journalist and dissident.
"It's a serious mistake," Khosrowshahi said. "We've made mistakes too, right? With self-driving, and we're recovering from that mistake … So I think that people make mistakes. It doesn't mean that they can never be forgiven. I think they've taking is seriously."
Primack challenged his comparison of a political assassination, as described in a CIA report, to the presumptively accidental killing of a pedestrian by a self-driving car.
"I didn't read that part of the CIA report," Khosrowshahi said. "You're obviously deeper in it."
Khosrowshahi, however, is now very deep in something else.
Khosrowshahi later backtracked, telling Axios after the interview had ended that he had misspoken. "I said something in the moment that I do not believe," said the CEO in a statement. "When it comes to Jamal Khashoggi, his murder was reprehensible and should not be forgotten or excused."
