A tech exec sent an antisemitic email about vaccines to lawmakers and business leaders. He resigned hours later.
A Utah tech executive acknowledged his email opining about coronavirus vaccines to state lawmakers and business executives "sounds bonkers." But he sent it anyway.
"I believe there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people," Dave Bateman, co-founder of Entrata, a property management software company, wrote Tuesday, KSTU first reported.
"I believe the Jews are behind this," he added.
The email, littered with baseless claims and antisemitic tropes about the vaccines, led to an immediate backlash from the Utah tech community, religious leaders and politicians. Bateman resigned as chairman on Tuesday.
In a statement, Entrata chief executive Adam Edmunds condemned Bateman's conspiracy theories, which he said do not reflect the values of the company.
"To be absolutely clear, we at Entrata firmly condemn antisemitism in any and all forms," the statement said. "For those who have seen and been offended or disturbed by the content of Dave's email, we understand and share your disappointment."
Bateman did not immediately respond to The Washington Post's request for comment late Tuesday. In a text message to a reporter for KSTU, Bateman confirmed he sent the email and said he "had no intention of raising a big stir" and has "nothing but love for the Jewish people."
"Some of my closest friends are Jews," he said. Bateman then doubled down on his falsehoods, adding, "I fear billions of people around the globe right now are being exterminated."
Bateman is one of three founders of Entrata, which was formed in 2003. The software company has raised more than $500 million in investor funding, according to Forbes, and is valued at more than $1 billion. Bateman stepped down as chief executive in 2020 and moved to Puerto Rico. Despite leaving his post as chairman Tuesday, he is still the largest stakeholder in the company, Forbes reported.
Bateman sent the email early Tuesday morning to more than 50 recipients, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R), Utah Senate Minority Whip Luz Escamilla (D) and Ryan Smith, the owner of the Utah Jazz, KSTU reported. It included antisemitic and false claims that the Jewish people conspired to make a vaccine that would weaken immune systems to kill off billions of people and that for 300 years "Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top."
"I believe the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule," Bateman wrote, according to KSTU.
"I pray that I'm wrong on this," Bateman continued. "Utah has got to stop the vaccination drive. Warn your employees. Warn your friends. Prepare. Stay safe."
There is no evidence the vaccine will alter the immune system, The Post has reported. Federal health authorities have found that the vaccine is safe for people who are immunocompromised and that complications from the vaccine are exceedingly rare.
Bateman's statements echo antisemitic theories about the vaccine that are often spread on white-supremacist and neo-Nazi websites and social media channels, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Hours after the email was sent, recipients fired back at Bateman, condemning his harmful statements, according to Forbes. Many also spoke out publicly on Twitter. Smith, the Utah Jazz owner and founder of software company Qualtrics, tweeted that the email "crossed lines that should never be crossed."
"There is no room for discrimination of any kind, anywhere, ever," he added.
Blake McClary, a tech executive and president of the Salt Lake City chapter of Silicon Slopes, a nonprofit that supports Utah's burgeoning start-up environment, tweeted that Bateman needed to step down and "not embarrass" the tech community.
In a statement on his official governor Twitter account, Cox called Bateman's comments "irresponsible," "hurtfully anti-Semitic" and "blatantly false." On his personal account, the governor spoke more freely, calling the email "crazy stuff."
"I get insane emails like this from people often and normally wouldn't dignify it with a response, but I guess it's getting lots attention," Cox tweeted. "I hope he gets some help."
Religious leaders also spoke out. Rabbi Avremi Zippel of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah said he was "disgusted" by the letter, which he called a "flaming pile of garbage."
"Granted the contents are absolutely loony tunes, but sadly, we've seen nonsense like this metastasize to violence against our community before," he tweeted. "Utah is better than this."
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