Racial slur, genitalia drawings disrupt Federal Reserve Governor’s economic lecture

A lecture from Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook was disrupted on Thursday afternoon after a racial slur and vulgar drawings appeared on the screen during her presentation, according to multiple people who attended the event.

Cook is the first Black woman and woman of color to be appointed to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, a group of seven economists responsible for directing the nation’s monetary policy, among other duties.

According to Reuters, the livestreamed lecture was “hacked,” leading to the discriminatory remarks appearing on the screen in the first few minutes of Cook’s talk. It is unclear if this apparent Zoom bombing was targeted at Cook.

One Pitt community member who was at the lecture made a Telegram post of the presentation along with a censored image of the obstructed screen.

“The attackers used Zoom bombing to place racist words, Nazi symbols and pornographic images on the broadcast screen,” the attendee said in their post, which The Pitt News translated. “The topic of monetary policy remained, and everyone was busy with this incident.”

During the event, which took place in the O’Hara Ballroom and had about 100 attendees, Cook spoke about America’s economic recovery following the pandemic and her near-term outlook for America’s economic future. Cook’s talk was part of the economics department’s McKay Lecture series, a yearly talk featuring prominent economists named after former economics department chair Marion McKay.

The event was not advertised with a virtual component, and it is unclear why the event was being livestreamed or how the discriminatory remarks appeared on the screen.

A University spokesperson declined to comment about the incident.

Grace Longworth contributed reporting to this article.