Mark Cuban took a swipe at fellow Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary, saying his main interest in politics is that it affords him “more airtime.”
He made the comments during an interview on the podcast Farokh Radio published on October 3. Host Farokh Sarmad asked the billionaire what the “elites” are saying about the election, and Cuban responded: “Kevin I think just likes the idea that he gets to go on Fox Business and talk about whatever he wants.”
He added, “I think that’s really what motivates him more than anything else, just more airtime.”
O’Leary has spoken on the news several times about his thoughts on the election.
On August 10, O’Leary said on Fox Business that the “real deal” of the election will be winning battleground states, and Trump going after Harris on inflation, the border, fracking, foreign affairs, and police funding and crime.
More recently, on September 23, O’Leary said on Fox News that his employees in battleground states, and all across America, are concerned about the cost of living and need a politician with a plan to fix it.
Kevin O’Leary has been contacted for comment via online form at O’Leary Ventures.
Kevin O’Leary (L) and Mark Cuban (R) at O’Leary’s symposium celebrating global entrepreneurship, Casa Loma, April 5, 2018,Toronto, Canada. Cuban has said that O’Leary sees politics as an opportuity for ‘more airtime.’
GP Images/Getty images
Cuban has also agreed to numerous media appearances, both on traditional mainstream media shows such as Neil Cavuto’s Fox News show Your World on Wednesday, and on shows that cater to a podcasting and YouTube audience such as the All-In podcast hosted by Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg.
Cuban, a Shark Tank investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has been active during the 2024 election cycle in political commentary and endorsement of Kamala Harris.
Cuban went on to discuss with Farokh how he believes other “elites” in the business world view this election. He said: “There’s other people who just think ‘Lower taxes, lower taxes, lower taxes, that’s all I care about.’
Cuban added that the people who want stability and who do not want “more of what we had before” are voting for Harris.
He also said that if the election had gone differently, with a different Republican candidate running against Joe Biden, such as Chris Christie or Nikki Haley, he would have voted for them over Biden.
Mark Cuban at a basketball game at Crypto.com Arena on April 21, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Cuban has been an outspoken critic of Trump, and supporter of Harris in the 2024 election.
Allen Berezovsky/Getty images
Cuban also backtracked on a previous comment made on Fox News on September 25 that he would want to run the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), currently headed up by Gary Gensler, if he were to be given a role within a potential Harris administration.
He told Farokh: “I don’t want wanna run the SEC…I wanted the conversation to happen to send a message to Gary Gensler that he’s doing it all wrong.”
A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment on Cuban’s statement when approached by Newsweek.
Cuban also said on the same Fox News show that he would be open to being head of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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