Chris Metzler, an expert on diversity, equity and inclusion, said he did not flinch when he learned that billionaire Bill Ackman had said Martin Luther King Jr., whose life was committed to civil and equal rights, would have “opposed” the ideology of DEI. 

Metzler, who created certification courses in diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, at Georgetown and Cornell universities, called the remarks “just ridiculous, but not surprising. He and they — because he’s not alone in this — want to take the ‘content of your character’ part of that historic speech out of context to fit their narrative. It’s wrong.”

Speaking with X owner Elon Musk and Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, a long-shot Democratic presidential candidate, on the federal holiday celebrating King’s birthday, Ackman called the “DEI movement” an ideology that went against the tenets of King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech. 

Ackman, a hedge fund manager, has been at the forefront of an effort to delegitimize DEI programs, and he was integral to the campaign to oust Claudine Gay as the president of Harvard University. Gay was the first Black person to hold that position. Ackman also wrote in a lengthy post on X that “DEI is racist.”

Musk also has made inflammatory statements about that subject, including last week, when he responded to an X user who speculated that Air Force pilots’ IQ scores were higher than those of United Airlines pilots who went to historically Black colleges and universities. 

“It will take an airplane crashing and killing hundreds of people for them to change this crazy policy of DIE,” Musk wrote, misspelling the DEI initialism. 

Those examples sum up the ongoing effort to wipe out DEI initiatives, which have been in place to ensure fairness in hiring practices and inclusive working environments. Now, King’s words are being twisted to promote anti-DEI messaging.

His “Dream” speech “is precisely about a world where people will be judged not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. And when I came to learn about the DEI movement, which is an ideological movement, it’s really the reverse of that,” Ackman said during their conversation on Spaces, X’s live audio platform. 

“I think Dr. King would be very opposed to this sort of ideology, even though, you know, diversity is a good thing, even though, of course, a culture where everyone feels comfortable and included is critically important.”

Asked by NBC News for comment, an Ackman representative said, “We don’t have any additional comment beyond what Bill said on the Spaces.”

Metzler said it is an “inherent contradiction” for Ackman, who is white, to say “diversity is a good thing” while also opposing DEI. 

“Here’s the thing: The diversity that they want to focus on is white male,” said Metzler, who is Black and is writing a comprehensive book on DEI. “That’s it. Everything else really, really doesn’t matter to them. They want to talk about diversity of thought, which I think is important. The problem, however, is they want to style it as diversity of their thought, which is not inclusive.”

Ackman’s comments are similar to sentiments expressed by other wealthy conservatives who have evoked King’s name in their thoughts about DEI. Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican businessman who dropped out of the presidential race Monday, said last week: “I think it desecrates the legacy of our civil rights movement, desecrated the legacy of Martin Luther King, that right when we get closest to of having racial equality … to then obsess over systemic racism. To then obsess over white guilt and otherwise.”

Billionaire Lululemon founder Chip Wilson did not refer to King, but he recently minimized the importance of businesses’ having DEI policies. In an interview with Forbes published Jan. 2, Wilson blasted the company’s “whole diversity and inclusion thing.” He also sounded off about Lululemon’s ads because he did not like the shape and sizes of some of its models.

His remarks sparked some DEI executives to call for a boycott of the athletic wear company, which Wilson stepped away from in 2015.

“I feel like we’ve got a Billionaire Bullies Club going on,” DEI adviser Dani Monroe told NBC News this month. 

Carmen Morris, a DEI consultant in London, said Ackman’s attempt to use King’s words to push his narrative fell short — and was insulting.

“If DEI is the reverse of people being judged not by the color of their skin but the content of their character, then how come all the power and all the positions rest with people who look like him?” Morris said. “Is he, as a billionaire hedge fund manager, suggesting that people of color have no character?”

Morris added that “if Dr. King came back today, what do you think he would think of what is happening? All it is is an extension of what happened in the ’50s and the ’60s. It’s a modern-day extension in a much more globalized world, the world of the internet, where these men are able to spread their message that it’s more about class and money than anything else.”

The emphasis of fairness after police murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 has faded like dust, Morris said. 

“It seems to me that they have decided it’s back to business,” she added. “George Floyd was buried four years ago. They’re saying, ‘We’ve paid you Black people a little attention for a few years — now get back in your box and get on with it.’ This is not what Dr. King said. But that’s what’s happening.”

The founder of JBrady5 Consulting, Joseph B. Hill, a veteran DEI executive, said a lack of understanding of King’s messages may have led to Ackman’s comments.

“Bill Ackman clearly didn’t know Dr. King. And maybe if he takes the time to read books and listen to his sermons in full before making such statements, he wouldn’t sound so disconnected from reality,” Hill said. “He’d learn that Dr. King was about inclusion and fairness. Period.”

Bernice King, 60, the youngest daughter of King, the legendary pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, addressed politicians and others who evoke her father. In a post on X, she described him as being “about corrective justice work. … Don’t just quote him. Enact policies that reflect his teachings.”