Turning Point USA founder and conservative, Charlie Kirk, suggested Silicon Valley Bank collapsed due to the lender's diversity, equity and inclusion commitment statement on its website.
Kirk tweeted, "It is a mystery why Silicon Valley Bank collapsed," along with a screenshot of the banks Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement.
NBC reporter Ben Collins responded to Kirk's tweet, writing, "On the right-wing internet, SVB collapsed because of DEI and ESG, which is just SBF's version of CRT. This is the kind of sentence you're gonna start hearing from presidential candidates, and they're going to wonder why nobody cares. It's meaningless acronyms all the way down."
Other Twitter users chimed in to criticize the right-wing activist's theory, calling it "embarrassing, even for you."
@williamlegate: "to suggest that this is the reason is absurd, but it was also very predictable. I called it yesterday that you all would blame this on DEI"
@holman: "it's okay to admit you don't understand banking!"
@Cassizzi: "Frankly it would be a bigger mystery if a community college dropout like yourself knew anything about liquidity risk management in a financial institution. But nice try, Charlie."
@buccocapital: "you are a true moron"
READ MORE: 'War on white people': Charlie Kirk's train derailment conspiracy theory
David Burrows: "Hilarious. Now tell us why CPAC collapsed"
@MikieAndTheVibe: "im not sure if this post just makes 0 sense or if you’re saying that the company failed because they attempt to include gay and black people"
Andy Brining: "Yeah, everything with you is a mystery for some reason. I wish we could discover the common factor."
READ MORE: Silicon Valley Bank becomes 'largest bank' to collapse 'since 2008' financial catastrophe: report
@e_michael1: "In case people were wondering, this is *not* why SVB failed."
@RagingGinge: "c'mon Charlie this is embarrassing even for you."