UTAH (KTVX) – Utah tech mogul Dave Bateman, who founded the software company Entrata, sent an email Tuesday to several tech sector executives and elected officials in the state alleging that the COVID-19 vaccine is part of an effort, by “the Jews,” to exterminate billions of people.
News of Bateman’s antisemitic remarks was confirmed to KTVX by a recipient of the email, which was later forwarded to the station.
In the email, Bateman says “I believe the Jews are behind this. For 300 years the Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top. It happened in 2013 with Pope Francis. I believe the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule. I know, it sounds bonkers. No one is reporting on it, but the Hasidic Jews in the US instituted a law for their people that they are not to be vaccinated for any reason.”
Entrata CEO Adam Edmunds sent a statement out in response to Bateman’s statements explaining that the “opinions expressed by Dave were his alone, and do not reflect the views or values of Entrata, the executive team, board of directors, or investors.”
Edmund goes on to state that the company condemns all forms of antisemitism.
About an hour later, Edmunds tweeted out that Entrata’s board of directors had asked Bateman to resign from the company’s board of directors — including his position as chairman. Bateman has agreed, according to Edmunds, and is no longer a member of the Entrata board.
The United Jewish Federation of Utah released an email of its own on Tuesday, condemning the language and sentiment in the email from Bateman.
“The statement contained vile, hyperbolic, and untrue accusations against Jews which amplify some of the worst anti-Semitism in our history. It directly attributes to the Jewish people the responsibility for the deaths of millions of Americans and other repeatedly refuted baseless conspiracy theories about the Jewish people and the Covid epidemic,” the statement read. “We believe such statements by influential people in our community contribute to the rising hate crimes and violent attacks against Jews here and abroad.”
The Federation continued by asking any organizations associated with Bateman to sever ties with the former tech executive.
Gov. Cox also expressed how he felt about the situation in a tweet Tuesday evening saying, “These irresponsible comments are hurtfully antisemitic, blatantly false, and we completely reject.”