Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban sparked intrigue and curiosity when his recent Fox News Channel interview was interrupted by a high-profile economic name.
The Dallas Mavericks owner was speaking Thursday with Fox News’s Dana Perino on re-starting business in America in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, when he suddenly appeared to be getting a Skype call from former President Obama economic advisor Robert Wolf.
(Source: Fox News)
“What are your thoughts about how to reopen the economy, when to reopen the economy? I mean, you’re a business owner yourself,” Perino asked on “The Daily Briefing” Thursday.
“Safety first, you can’t jeopardize the safety of your employees,” Cuban replied. “I mean look, the way companies make decisions about how they treat their employees and stakeholders is going to define their brand for the next decade.”
“So, even though on one hand you want to try to get back to work, you want the country to get back to work, if something should go wrong, and you know, the virus is going to come back, your company, you’re ruined… You have to put safety first,” he added.
“What about, you know, somebody like the Bruins owner, Jeremy Jacobs,” Perino said. “He’s taken some heat, he’s a billionaire himself, but people there are going to be laid off. Temporary furloughs, indefinite salary reductions, is that the type of brand hit you’re talking about?”
But as the “Shark Tank” star began to respond, viewers saw a Skype notification screen pop up with Wolf’s picture and name appear on the bottom of the television screen. The Fox News cameras broke away to show only Perino who laughed at the interruption.
“I think that he was getting a call there. Looks like it might’ve been from somebody really important,” she quipped.
Perino could not immediately reestablish contact with Cuban who presumably took the call from Wolf, who served as Chairman for UBS Americas and President for UBS Investment Bank as well as serving as a member of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
After a commercial break, however, Cuban returned to complete the interview with Perino, but the interruption had raised quite a few eyebrows on social media.
Robert Wolf of UBS Investment Bank 🙂 probably telling Cuban to lay low on the “we are paying our people and can afford the hit” 🙂
— Brian Gass (@brianlgass) March 26, 2020
— John Wright (@JohnWri35178124) March 26, 2020
Hey @mcuban there’s a “mute incoming calls” setting in Skype, perfect for media interviews. 😂
Love you, man!
— Red Stick Cyber Dude (@CyberWarPodcast) March 26, 2020
An associate producer from Fox 10 Phoenix tweeted a video clip of the interview with a caption explaining that Cuban got a call from “some guy” named Robert Wolf.
@DanaPerino was having the best #interview with @mcuban on the #Coronavirus #stimulusbill until #MarkCuban received a #Skype call from some guy named #RobertWolf 😂😂 #FoxNews #LiveTelevison #News #Reporting pic.twitter.com/9HkSlYoCtS
— Kevin Fleischman (@KevinFFox10) March 26, 2020
This apparently got the attention of Wolf, himself, who tweeted back that he would be happy to do an interview with the television station though he was “pretty sure” Cuban would not be “Skype-bombing our interview.”
Hey Kevin that “some guy” would be happy to come on your show with you , @Fox10Renee or @RonHoonFox10 but pretty sure @mcuban won’t be Skype-bombing our interview
— Robert Wolf (@robertwolf32) March 27, 2020
In a recent appearance on “The View,” Cuban repeatedly refused to take the bait and bash President Trump on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, though he has often been openly critical of the president.
“You know, I’m not a fan of President Trump’s,” Cuban replied when asked if the administration’s delays “cost lives.”
“But I’m not going to rip on him either because any senator could have stood up and said something and screamed loud, any congressperson could have, nobody did. And so, I didn’t have high expectations for President Trump but I’m not going to throw him under the bus. I think it was a failure of leadership across the entire political spectrum,” he said.
.@mcuban calls America’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic “a failure of leadership across the entire political spectrum.”
“Anybody who had access to information that typical citizens did not should have been screaming loud and clear and nobody did.” https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/459ECtjuQC
— The View (@TheView) March 25, 2020
Cuban offered some hope and guidelines to small businesses struggling through the effects of the global pandemic during an interview on the “Fox News Rundown” podcast Thursday.
“We truly are a country of entrepreneurs. We have that spirit to go out and start companies, to be creative, to take risks,” he said, predicting that “amazing companies” would emerge in the aftermath.
“There will be new products developed that really change the world,” Cuban added. “That’s who we are as a country. And that’s why, as bleak as it can seem right now, and is horrific and tragic … we’ll get to the other side, I’m 100 percent certain and we’ll be different when we get there.”
** Editor’s Note: This article was updated to reflect that Mark Cuban returned to complete the Fox News interview following a commercial break.
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Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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