Nik Pash, AI head at Cline, faced severe backlash after his comment on a photo of Indian coders in a hackathon caused controversy. The photo showed a crowded room of coders working hard at the @xai hackathon. Pash wrote, "Imagine the smell," which many people saw as a racist remark targeting Indian coders.

The comment quickly drew sharp criticism on social media. People called the comment a "brazen attack" on Indian coders, accusing Pash of being offensive and racist. However, Cline’s CEO Saoud Rizwan stepped in to defend Pash, explaining that the comment was misunderstood.

Rizwan, who is of South Asian descent himself, said, "Cline was started at a hackathon which in fact was quite smelly. I work with Pash every day and can confirm this tweet was taken the wrong way."

Nik Pash also thanked his boss and added, "hackathons with packed rooms never smell great."

But social media users were not convinced. Many expected an apology instead of a defense. One user wrote, "Sure buddy. I'm sure if that asshole would've said 'These fucking n***ers' then you'd have come to tell the fun story of how there was rap music being played in the background at the hackathon where your company was started.... The dude could've said sorry or clarified or just deleted the tweet instead of waiting for you to come justify on his behalf."

The controversy around Pash’s tweet is still active, with calls for a formal apology continuing online.