Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure calls writer of Twitter comment ‘an ignorant racist’

A Twitter post on Thursday prompted Sprint chief executive Marcelo Claure to call its author “an ignorant racist.”

The post came from Brett Schulte of Los Angeles. Schulte said in a phone interview that he consults with “brands and talent” about how to work in social media such as Twitter.

His tweet said in part that Claure is “so outclassed he can barely speak the language.”

Claure, a Bolivian immigrant for whom English is a second language, replied, “YOU are an ignorant racist. You should be ashamed of yourself and your dumb comments.”

A Sprint spokeswoman said the company would not comment on the exchange.

The Sprint executive regularly demonstrates his fluency in English in his dealings with the media, Wall Street analysts, investors, customers and employees.

Thursday’s exchange between Schulte and Claure sparked some to comment on Twitter in the CEO’s favor.

Xavier Calderon tweeted to Claure that “folks like (Schulte) are a waste. Do what you do best by continuing to show with actions who you are.”

A comment from @disruptwireless said: “wow Brett, are you seriously that ignorant?”

Schulte, a former Sprint customer who switched to T-Mobile, also had disparaged Sprint in his tweet. Still, he was taken to task by a fellow T-Mobile customer who also had dropped Sprint’s service.

“Agree. Doesn’t mean you hate Sprint, doesn’t mean you call Marcelo a dumb-fool,” T-Mobile is Awesome said in a tweet.

Schulte said in an interview that his comment about Claure’s language skills was an exaggeration. He said he finds Claure difficult to understand and to be a poor communicator. Claure’s failing, Schulte said, makes him a poor choice to lead Sprint.

Schulte said he was unable to offer examples of others who have said Claure is difficult to understand.

Claure became Sprint’s top officer last August after having co-founded and built a Miami-based business that generated more than $10 billion in revenues throughout the United States and much of the world.

Since joining Sprint, he has conducted quarterly conference calls with Wall Street analysts, spoken at the the annual meeting of the Kansas City Area Development Council, fielded questions from local media and chatted with customers.

Here’s his exchange last December with customers and local reporters at a Sprint store in Leawood.

Schulte had followed up his original tweet with another that said, “fluency has nothing to do with race,” a point he also sought to make in the interview.

“He certainly can be Latin, have an accent and be a great communicator. He’s just not,” Schulte said.

Claure later tweeted again: “I’m not going to waste my time with you. People understand me all over the world.”

Rodger Dean Duncan, a management consultant, writer and former head of public relations for the Campbell Soup Co., said a better response for Claure would have been to ignore Schulte’s post.

“My first advice would be don’t respond at all. My second choice would be to respond with humor directed at yourself,” Duncan said.

Duncan, a former White House speechwriter, offered the example of a former U.S. secretary of agriculture who responded to a letter writer who questioned whether he was smart enough for the job.

“You may be right” was the secretary’s one-line formal reply, Duncan said.

In the interview, Schulte held up T-Mobile chief executive John Legere as a social media savvy, skilled communicator he admires.

Legere is widely followed on Twitter and practices self-deprecating humor from time to time. He is also known for his public profanity, and he apologized last year for publicly comparing his competitor’s prices to rape.

This story was originally published April 23, 2015 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure calls writer of Twitter comment ‘an ignorant racist’."