Apple CEO Tim Cook took a moment Monday during the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco to acknowledge the victims of a shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida. The shooting killed 49 and injured 53 others.
"Before we start with the keynote we’d like to take a moment to talk about the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Orlando, Florida," Cook said in the opening lines of the event. "We offer our deepest sympathies to everyone whose lives were touched by this violence. It was a senseless, unconscionable act of terrorism and hate aimed at dividing and destroying."
He continued:
The Apple community is made up of people from all around the world, from all different backgrounds, and all different points of view. We celebrate our diversity. We know that it makes us stronger and moves everyone forward.
Please rise and join us in a moment of silence to honor the victims and the people who love them.
In a 2014 essay, Cook came out as gay, writing, "I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”
A year earlier, during a speech at Auburn University on the topic of human rights, Cook said the discrimination he experienced growing up shaped his worldview.
"I have seen and have experienced many types of discrimination," he said, "and all of them were rooted in the fear of people that were different than the majority.”
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