Chevron CEO Mike Wirth attempted to deliver a speech at a corporate diversity event on Tuesday about gender inclusivity. Before he could finish his remarks, he was publicly confronted by climate change activists from Climate Defiance, who accused him of hypocritically hurting women while accepting an award from a "corporate diversity event."
In a video posted to X (the platform formerly known as Twitter), the activists can be heard shouting profanities at Wirth and ultimately pressuring him into leaving the event. Before Wirth's departure, the activists are seen storming the stage where Wirth was present, and then delivering a series of statements. One protester accused Chevron of "killing thousands of Indigenous women, and exposing thousands more to cancer and reproductive illness," concluding that "you are not an ally to women. You are a murderer!"
Another protester criticized the oil company for allegedly "increasing offshore gas drilling with Israel in the midst of a genocide against the Palestinian people." Still another referenced a lawsuit in which 30,000 Ecuadorians were awarded $9.5 billion from the petroleum behemoth, which has not yet paid a penny. Chevron "owes billions of dollars in damages for poisoning the Ecuadorian rainforest," the protester said in the clip.
Climate Defiance is famous for its theatrical protests, which target political and business figures associated with the fossil fuel industry. Speaking with Salon in January after a protest at an event for Sen. Joe Manchin — a West Virginia Democrat well-known for supporting the fossil fuel industry — Climate Defiance founder Michael Greenberg explained the group's philosophy to Salon.
"I believe it is important to be disruptive and confrontational, while of course remaining nonviolent," Greenberg explained. "Our aim is not to move Manchin but to shake society awake and shift the terms of debate."
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