Tim Cook Gay? Apple CEO Outed During CNBC Segment

Tim Cook is (probably) gay. The Apple CEO hasn’t commented on his sexuality but he was accidentally outed today during a segment on CNBC.

The panel members on Squawk On The Street were talking about gay public figures and noted that most there weren’t many openly gay CEOs in the business world. Simon Hobbs disagreed, however, saying that Tim Cook is “fairly open” about being gay.

Hobbs said: “There are gay CEOs in major companies, and I reached out to many of them. I got an extremely cool reception, not one would allow to be named at all.”

But Hobbs is mistaken. Cooks is not “fairly open” about being gay. In fact, he is gay he has never admitted as much to the public.

Hobbs’ comment was greeted with a pretty awkward silence. He tried to get the rest of the panel to back him up but no one was willing to purposefully out Cook on television.

Hobbs said: “Oh, dear, was that an error?. I thought he was open about it.”

New York Times columnist James Stewart replied: “I don’t want to comment about anybody who might or might not be. I’m not going to out anybody.”

You can watch the segment below.

We don’t know if Tim Cook is gay or not. Simon Hobbs seems to think so but he could be mistaken. What we do know is that Cook is an advocate for gay rights. He even penned an open letter in the Wall Street Journal urging congress to pass the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.

I applaud @WhiteHouse decision to ban #LGBT discrimination at fed contractors. House must act on #ENDA. A matter of basic human dignity.

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 17, 2014

The House should mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act by passing ENDA. @SpeakerBoehner @GOPLeader @NancyPelosi @WhipHoyer — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 11, 2014

Do you think Tim Cook is gay? Are you surprised that there aren’t more openly gay CEOs in the business world?

[Image Via Twitter]