A Utah tech company founder and onetime prominent figure in state Republican politics resigned from the board of the company he started on...
A Utah tech company founder and onetime prominent figure in state Republican politics resigned from the board of the company he started on Tuesday after sending an email outlining an anti-Semitic vaccination conspiracy theory.
David Bateman, founder and board chair of the company Entrata, claimed the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a plot by 'the Jews' to exterminate people, Fox13 reported. He also branded ongoing vaccine efforts a 'sadistic drive to euthanize the American people', and called for no more shots to be administered.
The email, which was sent at 4:59am, attacks the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and urges people not to get it.
It claims 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.'
Dave Bateman, CEO of Entrata, a Utah tech company founder and onetime prominent figure in state Republican politics, has stepped down from the company after an anti-Semitic email
Dave Bateman sent an email screed to a several fellow executives outlining an antisemitic vaccination conspiracy theory
The recipients included the owner of NBA´s Utah Jazz, Ryan Smith, GOP Governor Spencer Cox and Utah Senate Minority Whip Luz Escamilla, a Democrat.
'These irresponsible comments are hurtfully anti-Semitic, blatantly false, and we completely reject them,' Cox tweeted.
Bateman confirmed he sent the email in a text message to the news station. He said he had 'nothing but love for the Jewish people' but he echoed the assertions in the email.
'Yes. I sent it. I have nothing but love for the Jewish people. Some of my closest friends are Jews. My heart breaks for their 2500 years they've been mistreated by nearly every country on earth. But I do believe Scottish Rite Freemasons are behind the pandemic (overwhelmingly Jewish),' he wrote. 'And I fear billions of people around the globe right now are being exterminated.'
The email contained his personal opinion and was intended for a few friends, he said.
'I write this email knowing that many of you will think I'm crazy after reading it,' Bateman wrote in the first sentence of the email.
Bateman confirmed he sent the email in a text message to news station Fox13 in Salt Lake City
The Entrata board of directors asked Bateman, pictured, to step down Tuesday, and he agreed
'I believe there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people. It's obvious now. It's undeniable, yet no one is doing anything. Everyone is discounting their own judgment, and dismissing their intuition,' Bateman continued.
He went on to claim 'for 300 years the Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top,' stating that the effort had succeeded with Pope Francis.
He stated that that Covid and the vaccines designed to protect people would actually destroy people's immune systems.
'I believe the pandemic and systemic 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,' Bateman wrote.
'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,' he wrote in the email. 'I pray that I'm wrong on this. Utah has got to stop the vaccination drive. Warn your employees. Warn your friends. Prepare. Stay safe.'
A number of other unfounded conspiracy theories about the effect of vaccine's were included adding 'everything is being expertly censored' together with links to emails that echoed his claims.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox was included on the email and responded by saying he hopes Bateman receives help
Bateman would regularly post equally wacky conspiracy theories about Jews and anti-vaccination theories on his Instagram account which has now been made private
Pictured: Headquarters of Entrata software in Lehi, Utah
He has retired as CEO of Entrata, a property management software company, but had remained chair of the company's board.
Bateman had also been a prominent figure in Utah Republican politics, financially bailing out the party a few years ago when its legal debt mounted during a court fight over paths for candidates to get on the ballot.
The Entrata board of directors asked Bateman to step down Tuesday, and he agreed.
'The opinions expressed by Dave were his alone and do not reflect the views or values of Entrata ... To be absolutely clear, we at Entrata firmly condemn antisemitism in any and all forms,' CEO Adam Edmunds said in a statement.
His email was also met with shock and dismay from people like Blake McClary, another prominent Utah tech executive who runs the Salt Lake City chapter of Silicon Slopes, a nonprofit representing the state's tech industry.
He tweeted a call for Bateman to step down from Entrata and 'not embarrass us.'
Rabbi Avremi Zippel of Chabad Utah called the email 'blatant anti-Semitism' and a 'flaming pile of garbage' that could lead to real-world violence
The Utah Rabbi was able to find a slither of humor in his own tweet on the situation
Rabbi Avremi Zippel of Chabad Utah called the email 'blatant anti-Semitism' and a 'flaming pile of garbage' that could lead to real-world violence.
'We know how quickly things go from ridiculous conspiracy theories online and in emails, how that jumps to violence rather quickly,' he said.
The email also shocked many working in the tech industry in Utah.
'It's incredibly disturbing that somebody in our community would voice these kinds of opinions, especially during this time,' said Elizabeth Converse, the executive director of Utah Tech Leads. 'We've all seen a rise in anti-semitic behavior across the country and specifically in Utah because of the virus.'
The COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. were tested in tens of thousands of people and proven to be both safe and effective at dramatically reducing the risk of serious disease and death.
The vaccines now have been given to millions of Americans, and that real-world use plus extra government safety tracking have made clear that serious side effects are extremely rare -- and that any risk is far lower than the risks posed by COVID-19.
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