Apple and Its Gay CEO Want Nothing to Do With GOP Convention

The tech giant will not aid the Republicans in any way, and their misogynist, race-baiting nominee influenced the company's decision.

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

June 18 2016 6:24 PM EST

June 19 2016 6:55 AM EST

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Apple -- one of the world's most influential tech companies -- is refusing to provide money or technology to the Republican convention in Cleveland, thanks to the party's nominee.

Run by out CEO Tim Cook (pictured), Apple threw down the gaunlet recently, telling the Republicans that they won't be receiving its assistance in August, Politico reports. Apple is at conflict with Trump over the issue of the company unlocking the phones of terrorists, but the tech giant also takes umbrage with the candidate's divisive proposals, including building a wall at the Mexican border and temporarily banning Muslim immigrants.

Apple provided approximately $140,000 in MacBooks and other technology to the Republicans for their 2008 convention, but offered nothing in 2012 to either party since the Democrats declined corporate sponsorship. Apple's role at this year's Democratic convention in Philadelphia remains unclear.

Alabama-born Cook is an outspoken advocate for equal rights, and his company opposes Trump's strict, and some say inhumane, immigration proposals. In contrast to Trump, Cook is supportive of attracting high-skilled foreign workers to the U.S. Whether that influenced Cook's decision more than the issue of encrypted phones is unknown. After the San Bernardino terrorist attack late last year, the FBI sought information from one of the killers' iPhones. Apple refused to unlock the device, saying it could set a dangerous precedent. In response, Trump called for a boycott of the company (after obtaining a court order to unlock the phone, the FBI managed to retrieve the information itself).