Simon Hobbs is likely wishing he could press rewind.
The CNBC co-anchor spoke too soon during a live segment of "Squawk on the Street" Friday when he accidentally outed Apple CEO Tim Cook.
New York Times columnist and CNBC contributor James B. Stewart spoke about his recent column dealing with the "tortured life" former BP chief John Browne led as a closeted gay CEO.
"I just found it very, very fascinating," Stewart said about Browne being the first CEO of a Fortune 500 or FTSE 100 company to publicly acknowledge that he is gay after being outed by a tabloid.
Shortly after, Browne resigned from BP in 2007.
"Of course, there are gay CEOs in major companies," Stewart continued. "I reached out to many of them."
Upon speaking to the closeted gay CEOs Stewart was aware of, he realized how none were willing to be identified although their initial interaction was pleasant.
"I got an extremely cool reception," he recalled, adding that "not one would allow to be named at all."
"I think Tim Cook is open about the fact he's gay at the head of Apple," Hobbs said. "Isn't he?"
An awkward silence followed as Hobbs quickly realized his snafu.
"Hmm, no," Stewart said shaking his head.
"Oh dear, was that an error?" Hobbs asked. "I thought he was open about it."
While Cook has been candid about his support of LGBT rights, he has never publicly spoken out about his own sexuality or addressed Hobbs remarks.
"I applaud @WhiteHouse decision to ban #LGBT discrimination at fed contractors," he tweeted June 17. "House must act on #ENDA. A matter of basic human dignity."
Confirming Hobbs error, co-anchor David Faber said, "Wow, I think you just … yeah."
Still Hobbs tried to conceal his mistake by saying, "I think he's very open about it."
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