Marc Benioff makes ‘cruel’ ICE jokes at Salesforce event

Marc Benioff joked about ICE agents being present at an internal Salesforce event Tuesday, Gazetteer SF has learned.

At Salesforce’s annual company kickoff in Las Vegas, Benioff presented a keynote address that was broadcast to all Salesforce employees. In a room filled with thousands of Salesforce staffers, he asked who traveled from abroad to stand up for recognition. He then proceeded to make a joke about ICE agents being in the back of the room, an anonymous tipster told Gazetteer. There were faint boos from the crowd.

Later, he offered a callback to that groaner: He asked how many people had not yet used a Slackbot tool, the tipster said, then cracked another joke about ICE being present. He then took a jab at Bad Bunny's instant-classic Super Bowl halftime performance Sunday, saying that he wasn’t sure what it was about.

Salesforce employees were not pleased.

“It’s hard to believe this company still has values when you make completely off-base jokes about ICE in your opening keynote,” said one employee inside an internal Slack viewed by Gazetteer. “That’s unacceptable.” (The comment received almost 800 emoji reactions in support.)

Another said that the jokes are “tone-deaf and quite cruel,” and are at odds with Salesforce’s self-avowed culture of equality.

Some employees talked about loved ones and other Salesforce “ohana” feeling unsafe, while one suggested that employees present at the kickoff walk out in protest. 

These remarks from Benioff are particularly repugnant, but perhaps not surprising given his political about-face in recent years. He told the New York Times last October, in the lead-up to the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, that he “fully” supports President Donald Trump. Benioff apologized days later on X after suggesting, in the same interview, that President Donald Trump deploy the National Guard to San Francisco. 

Gazetteer SF has reached out to Benioff for comment. We'll update the story with any developments.