World Economic Forum Apologizes to Vivek Ramaswamy for Falsely Calling Him ‘Young Global Leader’

The World Economic Forum (WEF) issued a formal apology to populist Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy after it named him as one of its “Young Global Leaders” (YGL) in 2021 without his consent.

In April, Ramaswamy filed a lawsuit against Klaus Schwab’s organization and accused it of “creating a false perception of affiliation by listing” him as a “Young Global Leader.”

On Tuesday, he took to the social media platform “X,” formerly Twitter, and posted a formal letter of apology he received from the WEF.

“The Forum acknowledges that this continued inclusion on a YGL document may have incorrectly implied an association with the Forum, and for that reason, the Forum apologizes for its unintentional error,” it reads in part.

The group claimed that beginning early last year, it only included YGLs who agreed to be on the list. 

Ramaswamy also released a video where he emphasized, “I have been one of the most vocal advocates of our sovereignty as a nation, and I have been one of the most vocal opponents of, say, the ESG movement that politicizes our capital markets, or globalist institutions, like the World Economic Forum that erode on the sovereignty of self-governing republics.”

Ramaswamy said he informed the group he “deeply disagreed with” its values and declined the award but learned months later he was included on the list. He stated he asked the organization to remove his name but went forward with a lawsuit after no action was taken.

The WEF’s desire to add him to its list was perplexing for Ramaswamy, who noted he had been critical of the organization prior to that, including in his New York Times bestselling book Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam.

“Yes, I was a successful person in this country, so they thought they could use my name and image along with people like Mark Zuckerberg or others who they had named, Elon Musk, that they had named in the past,” he said. “I wasn’t gonna let them get away with that.”

The 37-year-old anti-woke entrepreneur said there was “a financial component to the settlement” and that the funds would be redirected to the American First Policy Institute.