At an American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump called Tim Cook ‘Tim Apple’.
You’d think the CEO of America’s first trillion-dollar company would be a reputable enough figure for the President to know who he actually is. It’s possible it was just an error, but that’s up to you to decide.
You can watch him incorrectly name the Apple boss in the video clip below:
It’s entirely possible Trump simply got his words mixed up. Perhaps he meant to say Tim and Apple separately as he was trying to express gratitude to both Tim Cook and Apple?
As jotted by The Verge, this is the full transcript of what the POTUS said:
We’re going to be opening up the labor forces because we have to. We have so many companies coming in.
People like Tim — you’re expanding all over and doing things that I really wanted you to do right from the beginning.
I used to say, ‘Tim, you gotta start doing it here,’ and you really have, you’ve really put a big investment in our country. We really appreciate it very much, Tim Apple.
This isn’t the first time the President has said somebody’s name incorrectly in the tech world. In March 2018, he referred to the Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson as Marillyn Lockheed:
It does make for painful reading. Regardless of whether this was intentional or not, the moment was certainly awkward – especially with Tim Cook sitting right next to him.
To his credit, it doesn’t look like Cook visibly responds to the wrong name.
It’s important for Trump to remember not all CEOs share a surname with the name of their company.
Otherwise, he’d be calling on Jeff Amazon, Elon SpaceX and Mark Facebook for advice on technology policies…
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Matt Weston is a lover of electric cars, artificial intelligence and space. From Cornwall, he’s a UCLan graduate that still dreams of being a Formula One driver in the very near future. Previously work includes reporting for regional newspapers and freelance video for the International Business Times.