Apple CEO Tells WashPost He Sought Anderson Cooper’s Advice Before Coming Out

Sam Dorman
August 15th, 2016 5:22 PM
Font Size

Before Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly revealed his sexuality, he received advice from CNN’s Anderson Cooper — who came out publicly in 2012.

That’s what Cook told The Washington Post in a wide-ranging interview including his views on homosexuality and environmentalism.

“I talked to Anderson Cooper at length — multiple times,” Cook said in the interview published on Aug. 13. The CEO said journalist’s own announcement impressed him. “I thought that the way that he handled his announcement was really classy.”

In October 2014, Cook publicly announced his homosexuality in Bloomberg saying, “I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.” According to the Post, part of Cook’s reasoning was to help kids with same-sex attraction.

The interview showed how Cook wants to have company that seeks to empower people and “change the world for the better.” He mentioned controlling a company’s carbon footprint and “evangelizing moving human rights forward” as ways of improving the world.

“It doesn’t sit right with me that you have that kind of focus, but you’re not making sure your carbon footprint isn’t poisoning the place. Or that you’re not evangelizing moving human rights forward,” Cook said.

In his coming out, Cook he didn’t consider himself “an activist,” he realized “how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others.” But when Indiana passed a law supporting religious business owners who wished to refuse service to gays, he took a more activist role and publicly denounced the law in a March 30, 2015, Washington Post op-ed.

Cook said that Indiana’s law was one of several that were “very dangerous,” “designed to enshrine discrimination in state law” and “rationalize[d] injustice.”

The day after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed the bill into law, Cook tweeted disapproval. He said Apple was “deeply disappointed” and called for Arkansas’ governor to veto a similar law.

Apple, under Tim Cook’s leadership, celebrated Earth Day in 2016 by launching an “Apps for Earth” initiative. The program directed proceeds from participating apps like Angry Birds to the lefty World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

As part of the initiative, the heavily-downloaded mobile app Trivia Crack inundated its players with environmentalist features. The response on social media was negative.