Multiple Disruption Events in Microsoft Build: Vaniya Agrawal, CEO Satya Nadella, and a Former Microsoft Employee

Earlier this week during Microsoft’s developer conference, multiple onstage events were disrupted, including CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote speech on Monday. During the event, Microsoft employee Joe Lopez interrupted Nadella, yelling, “How about you show Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?” On the day after, a Palestinian tech worker disrupted an executive’s presentation. On Wednesday, the protesters disrupted a third session and Microsoft accidentally revealed internal messages about Walmart.

The musician — who was a member of the influential rock band Roxy Music and has also had a long, storied solo career — specifically called out Microsoft’s contracts with Israel’s Ministry of Defense. Last week, Microsoft admitted that it has contracts with the Israeli government for cloud and artificial intelligence services, but claimed that it had no proof that its tools were used to harm people in Gaza.

Both of the protesters involved in this latest Microsoft Build disruption were former Microsoft employees, with Vaniya Agrawal appearing alongside Nasr. Agrawal interrupted Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and CEO Satya Nadella later during the company’s 50th anniversary event last month. The email shows that she had put in two weeks notice before she was dismissed.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He said he would use his earnings from the Windows 95 chime to help the victims of the attacks on Gaza.