Comments made by Swiss investment adviser Marc Faber about race triggered a swift backlash.
Faber, who is well known for his market pessimism and often referred to as “Dr. Doom,” said in the October edition of his “Gloom, Boom & Doom Report” that it’s a good thing white people colonized America.
“Thank God white people populated America, and not the blacks,” he wrote. “Otherwise, the US would look like Zimbabwe, which it might look like one day anyway, but at least America enjoyed 200 years in the economic and political sun under a white majority.”
Faber continued on to say that he’s “not a racist,” and that he just wanted to highlight “the reality — no matter how politically incorrect.”
The report is dated Oct. 3, but Faber’s racist commentary only attracted attention this week.
The passage in question is part of a broader section that denounces socialism and includes a lengthy criticism of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Faber writes that socialist tendencies are common in modern communities, and decries efforts to tear down “important historical monuments that are a reminder of our history, even if it was not always glorious.”
Faber has since resigned from the board of Sprott, a Canadian asset management firm, at the request of the other directors.
“The recent comments by Dr. Faber are deeply disappointing and are completely contradictory with the views of Sprott and its employees,” CEO Peter Grosskopf said in a statement. “We pride ourselves on being a diverse organization and comments of this sort will not be tolerated.”
Novagold Resources, a precious metals company, also announced that Faber had resigned from its board on Tuesday evening.
Ivanhoe Mines, a mineral exploration company, said Tuesday night that it requested and accepted Faber’s resignation from its board.
“There is zero tolerance for racism,” the company said in a statement. “Ivanhoe Mines disagrees with, and deplores, the personally-held views about race that Marc Faber has published in his current investment newsletter.”
The company said the resignation is effective immediately.
Meanwhile, television networks are distancing themselves, too. Spokespeople for CNBC, Fox Business and Bloomberg TV all confirmed to CNNMoney on Tuesday that they do not plan to book Faber in the future.
Reached by email, Faber stood by his remarks.
“If stating some historical facts makes me a racist, then I suppose that I am a racist. For years, Japanese were condemned because they denied the Nanking massacre,” he said.
