Tim Cook insists Apple is 'open' after black teens asked to leave store, report says

Tim Cook insists Apple is 'open' after black teens asked to leave store, report says

"When you've spoken out about the removal of racist symbols in the American south, how do you respond when a video shows apparent racism in one of your own stores?

This was the situation facing Apple CEO Tim Cook after video emerged of several black teens being asked to leave the Apple store at the Highpoint shopping center in Melbourne, Australia.

The reason, so an Apple employee says in the video, was that other workers were concerned the teens "might steal something."

The video, posted to Facebook on Tuesday by Melbourne resident Francis Ose, shows the teens' incredulous reaction when being told why they were being asked to leave.

In his posting, Ose wrote: "Simply Racism, made them apologise tho."

On Friday, BuzzFeed published an email it said was sent by Cook to his employees. In it Cook said Apple is an "open" company and called the incident "unacceptable."

"One of our store employees gave an answer which shocked many of us," Cook said, adding that the employee "immediately" expressed regret to the students.

Neither Apple nor Ose responded to my request for comment."