Parag Agrawal, who took over as the new head of Twitter, shot from relative obscurity as the platform's technology expert to becoming the latest India-born talent to lead a US tech giant.
Even as he is the most-talked about person on Indian internet, a section of online users has dug out a tweet of his from over a decade ago, even before he started working at the social media giant.
The now-viral tweet is from 2010, in which Agrawal quotes a comedian from US television show, The Daily Show, where the latter speaks about racial and religious stereotypes.
This tweet which is currently going viral among the right from Twitter's new CEO is him quoting a Daily Show segment that aired that night about stereotypes.It's a joke about absurd stereotypes, not a factual statement. https://t.co/hhIdXTSiOHhttps://t.co/9bFtGrfExW
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) November 29, 2021
"'If they are not gonna make a distinction between muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people and racists (sic)’,” Parag Agrawal had posted on October 26, 2010, quoting what comedian Aasif Mandvi said on the show.
Agrawal’s post, although clearly tweeted with double quotes, was misinterpreted as “racist” by many. Republican senator Marsha Blackburn was among those who attacked Agrawal.
This is Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s new CEO and the person who’s going to be deciding what kind of speech is allowed on Twitter: https://t.co/W4HYeNSxlf— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) November 29, 2021
New CEO of Twitter Parag Agrawal said, “Why should I distinguish between white people and racists.”How will Twitter get better with a racist like Parag in charge?
— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) November 29, 2021
Parag Agrawal, the new CEO of Twitter, does not differentiate between racists and ordinary white people. In Woke America, you have to be a douchebag to become successful. pic.twitter.com/faYZ3370fC— Rakesh Krishnan Simha (@ByRakeshSimha) November 30, 2021
The Mumbai-born engineer had even clarified back then that it was not his quote.
“I was quoting Asif Mandvi from The Daily Show. The article you are reading seems too deep for my current mental state,” he had written the same day, responding to a user.
@Joylita I was quoting Asif Mandvi from The Daily Show. The article you are reading seems too deep for my current mental state.— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) October 26, 2010
“I am amused by people that pass judgement on people for passing judgement. I was attempting to do the same to amuse myself,” he followed up in another tweet.
@Joylita I am amused by people that pass judgement on people for passing judgement. I was attempting to do the same to amuse myself. :)— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) October 26, 2010
Despite trolls digging out his old tweet, Agrawal received support from many on Twitter.
The new CEO of Twitter has very quickly been welcomed with the age old Twitter custom of digging out decade old tweets to cancel you.— Nandita Iyer (@saffrontrail) November 30, 2021
No one:
Literally no one:
Tweeple digging old tweets of parag: pic.twitter.com/kRXcGeKtXm— ARUN (@arunkasula) November 29, 2021
Agrawal, 37, is the latest India-born person tapped to head a major US-based tech company, following the likes of Google-parent Alphabet's CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
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