Shark Tank‘s Kevin O’Leary has found himself swimming in shark-infested hot water after making a controversial statement on Twitter over the weekend.
But Mr. Wonderful refuses to back down. On the contrary, he’s appeared on various news shows in the past few days, defending his statement and snapping back at his critics.
The brouhaha started on Saturday morning when O’Leary tweeted: “You may lose your wife, you may lose your dog, your mother may hate you. None of those things matter. What matters is that you achieve success and become free. Then you can do whatever you like.”
You may lose your wife, you may lose your dog, your mother may hate you. None of those things matter. What matters is that you achieve success and become free. Then you can do whatever you like.
— Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) February 11, 2023
The tweet did not go over well with Twitter users, who found O’Leary’s no-holds-barred position lacking compassion and humanity.
A Twitter user named @MasonVersluis tweeted: “Kevin, this is a soulless tweet! Being soulless has brought you massive success, however, you now need to tap into your inner higher self and stop focusing on the money! Hopefully, you know self and have not gotten your brand mixed up with the human!”
Kevin, this is a soulless tweet!
Being soulless has brought you massive success, however, you now need to tap into your inner higher self and stop focusing on the money!
Hopefully, you know self and have not gotten your brand mixed up with the human!
— MASON VERSLUIS ?? (@MasonVersluis) February 11, 2023
@AlexKerner tweeted that O’Leary was too materialistic.
I used to appreciate your message, now it just sounds like a miserable life. Who cares about money when you have no one or nothing to enjoy but material items? If this is what’s defined as a success i can see why there’s backlash these days.
— Alex Kerner (@psychedalex68) February 14, 2023
Others took to tweeting adorable pictures of their dogs.
how could anything be more important than this pic.twitter.com/zaylHYtDwm
— raj ? (@rajgokal) February 12, 2023
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O’Leary responds
O’Leary, who never met a controversy he couldn’t publicize, took to the airwaves this week to defend his position.
He told CNN that he stands by his tweet “100 percent,” arguing that being an entrepreneur takes tremendous sacrifice.
“If you’re an entrepreneur, you know exactly what I’m talking about because you need to sacrifice. You have to work 25 hours a day, eight days a week, because your competitors in Mumbai or Shanghai — they want to kick your butt. You have to win when you’re young and sacrifice everything so that you achieve freedom for your whole family later in life,” he said.
O’Leary blasted his critics as not understanding the nature of entrepreneurship. “If you don’t get it, don’t worry about it cause you don’t fit the entrepreneurial mold,” he said. “If you’re not ready to work your ass off, you’re not an entrepreneur, get over it if that makes you uncomfortable. I couldn’t care less.”
On Fox News, O’Leary doubled down, saying, “If that statement makes you uncomfortable, you are not an entrepreneur. Don’t even try.”
I don’t understand all the blowback because of my comments on #hardwork #commitment & #sacrifice If you are not willing to work 25 hours a day 8 days a week don’t bother asking me for an #investment. You are not an #entrepreneur Get a job working for a competitor as an employee! pic.twitter.com/ZhUnhwERny
— Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) February 14, 2023