A Neom executive reportedly complained about having a meeting on a Sunday evening after 3 workers died
Neom
- A Neom exec complained about having a Sunday meeting after 3 workers died constructing the megaproject, per a WSJ report.
- Wayne Borg also reportedly made racist comments about Neom's workforce.
- Neom has also faced accusations of human rights abuses.
A Neom executive reportedly complained about having an emergency meeting on a Sunday evening following the deaths of three employees working on Saudi Arabia's megaproject estimated to cost between $500 billion and $1.5 trillion, according to a bombshell Wall Street Journal report.
Wayne Borg, a former Fox Corp executive, reportedly described Neom's blue-collar workers from the Indian subcontinent as "f—ing morons" and said "that is why white people are at the top of the pecking order."
"A whole bunch of people die so we've got to have a meeting on a Sunday night," Borg said, according to a recording of the meeting heard by the Journal.
The executive also reportedly reiterated the comments in a later conversation about the deaths, per the Journal, saying: "You can't train for stupidity" and: "The white blokes are at the top of the tree."
The executives' comments are just one of several cases of executive misconduct reported by the newspaper.
The area, which includes a luxury Red Sea resort and a linear city known as "The Line," is the centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plan to transform Saudi Arabia into a luxury tourism destination and innovation hub.
But recent reports have suggested the project is struggling to raise cash and will be scaled back amid spiraling costs.
Neom has also faced accusations of human rights abuses.
An ex-Saudi intelligence officer previously told the BBC that authorities had been permitted to use lethal force to clear land for the megaproject, and the CEO of a clean energy company told Business Insider he pulled out of a $100 million contract after he realized that the Saudis were bulldozing villages to make way for Neom.
Citing current and former Neom employees, the Journal reported that three workers were killed by a falling pipe, a collapsing wall, and mishandled explosives.
Borg and Neom did not respond to a request for comment, sent outside of normal working hours.
Neom told the Journal it has a zero-tolerance policy toward inappropriate workplace behavior.
The Journal also reported that Borg was previously reported to Neom's human resources for making racist and misogynistic comments about an employee.