Apple Fires Newly Hired Ex-Facebook Product Manager Following Revelations of Past Misogynistic Comments

[Johnny London]

And why Apple has to keep him if he brings nothing but trouble to the company?
It seems that he didn’t just say it but also published that in a book?

Nothing but trouble? Jesus. Staff complaining about things he said in the past. And who cares about a book. I would fire the staff which is obviously unfit to deal with the slightest amount of stress. If he's behaving now, then there is no case. People used to get hired because they can get a job done, not because they are particularly nice.

 

[markcres]

The great defender of misogyny. Charming.

You came to that conclusion because I support free speech?

Whether it is 'misogyny' or not is a matter of opinion - some will agree with you - but others may not. It isn't a matter of fact, which is why it is undesirable to destroy someone over an opinion.
I could decide to take your comment as hate speech and accuse you of racism - but I won't - but if I did you would suddenly feel disenfranchised about not having freedom of speech to accuse me of misogyny. See how toxic it becomes when you don't tolerate different viewpoints?

 

[WilburMercer]

Even if you don’t care about people, it’s worth realizing that putting someone with a history of publishing misogyny in charge of an organization that employs, interacts with, or exists on the same planet as women at a time when Silicon Valley companies have been hit with high-profile sexual harassment lawsuits is a financially unsound decision. Publishing that book was what we call a Career-Limiting Move.

Why are you trying to pretend I don't care about people?

Holy crap, some of you are desperate to believe you're surrounded by evil people.

 

[Macintosh101]

What about when Apple signed that deal with Dr Dre?

“Since the release of the film “Straight Outta Compton,” rapper Dr. Dre has been under fire for decades-old allegations of misogyny and violence against women. Dre, who has served as an executive at Apple since it acquired Beats Electronics last year, issued a public apology to The New York Times. Apple lent Dre support in a statement, saying, “Dre has apologized for the mistakes he’s made in the past and he’s said that he’s not the same person that he was 25 years ago. We believe his sincerity and after working with him for a year and a half, we have every reason to believe that he has changed.”

 

[oldoneeye]

I'm pretty sure he can find other jobs, worse ones, but he won't be starving. If we keep on putting people who think it's normal to make "rude comments" of that kind in important positions, it will always be normal. We decided it shouldn't be, so we are getting more severe until the lesson is learnt, not to punish some people but to let other people work in a safe environment.
Also, we are talking about incredibly skilled people who get insane amounts of money. I don't think the ability to consistently be a decent human being is too much to ask to get that close to the top.

I don't think an environment is unsafe where you are at risk of someone being rude or having opinions that you find offensive.

If a society is to be "diverse" and "tolerant" then it should allow diversity of opinions and be tolerant of those who's opinions we may consider different to the norm.

 

[Johnny London]

Even if you don’t care about people, it’s worth realizing that putting someone with a history of publishing misogyny in charge of an organization that employs, interacts with, or exists on the same planet as women at a time when Silicon Valley companies have been hit with high-profile sexual harassment lawsuits is a financially unsound decision. Publishing that book was what we call a Career-Limiting Move.

And what means misogyny? People clearly want to simplify and label anything. There is a world of difference between things you can say critically about women (and men too). Likely nobody here knows what exactly he said and likely very few of those Apple employees know. People are too trigger-happy nowadays.

 

[Benjamid]

Sad to see them caving inn to the woke mob. It’s understandable since they don’t wanna have a conflicts on all ends, of course.
Still, I had always hoped that wokeness was just a marketing ploy at Apple and on the inside it was merit driven.

 

[msp3]

‘Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of ****’ (further quoted below this letter)

Which part of what he said is wrong? I personally know people like this, disingenuous people who go around telling everyone else to "stay home" for coronavirus hysteria, only to run into them on the plane to a resort (not at all awkward for me, but shows how full of **** they are), all the while they hold up Michele Obama's ghostwritten book like a prop virtue-signaling through the entire flight.

 

[zakarhino]

How about people stop being offended over things which have nothing to do with them.

The petition has been signed by 2,000 Apple employees which includes the "Bay Area women" demographic that he doesn't like. It literally has got something to do with them.

EDIT: BTW you've gone from "people shouldn't be upset about jokes" to "maybe he just hates bay area women, not all women though!" in the span of an hour.

 

[zakarhino]

Which part of what he said is wrong?

The part where he made a generalized, sexist comment about a large number of people (some of whom are likely going to be or have been his co-workers).

 

[zakarhino]

And what means misogyny? People clearly want to simplify and label anything. There is a world of difference between things you can say critically about women (and men too). Likely nobody here knows what exactly he said and likely very few of those Apple employees know. People are too trigger-happy nowadays.

The letter they wrote literally has quotes from his autobiography in it. Apple employees know what he said which is why they signed the petition.

 

[Feyl]

Social justice extremist cancel culture at it again. But it’s true that he didn’t fit Apple’s image of a company that can’t do anything wrong. Now, let’s quit China Apple and start treating fairly the workers that are making your products! That’s more important than anything else. But you don’t care Apple, right? It’s more important to virtue signal.

 

[femike]

Apple finally saw the light with him being ex-Facebook.

 

[Googlyhead]

Here’s the thing that stands out to me; he’s been fired by Apple for something about him outside of the company that a group didn’t like.
Regardless of specifically what it was; if he hasn’t done anything illegal/wrong within the office/role; then presumably Apple is subject to some employment laws giving protection against wrongful termination.

I’m not going to defend his opinions (especially as I’ve no inclination to even look into them), but equally; I’m not going to condemn him.

But then; it’s the definition of the current wokeism/fascism/cancel to target individuals with a disposable mob (a bit like a DDOS!)
I know I’m little better; not in-depth researching his life…

Obviously; there’s no-one who remembers witch hunts or other events of the middle-ages, but Americans had McCarthyism, so it’s less excusable for them.

Well, times change. That’s life.

I vaguely remember a time when you hired people for their work, not their opinions.

 

[diddl14]

There's no possible way Apple didn't know about the book and likely initially planned to back him up or educate/indoctrinate him into the "Apple way", give him an opportunity to apologize, explain, grow, etc.

This seems to assume that „Apple“ is some Borg-like collective consciousness that assimilates new species.

If anything, this story tells you that it’s not. Apple is a simple human organization with people that more or less follow common values and beliefs. Clearly the advertisement group is a totally different bunch of people than the macOS team.

The way this worked out is totally Apple. At the end the collective values win over any („wrong“) individual decision.

Close to being Borg-like but still far from perfekt..

 

[TomOSeven]

So what things has he said? It’s a bit hard to take side if I have no information about his statements.

You're not supposed to ask that question, that's why neither article mentions it.

Just file him under 'irredeemable mysogynist' in your mind like a good, "Socially Aware™" person and let it go.

 

[LV426]

Side topic: I think the word 'misogyny' is due for an overhaul.

misogyny, n. dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women

The problem I have is that it is quite logical, in certain circumstances, to have ingrained prejudice against women (or men). For example, I think it's very very unlikely that if I need rescuing from a house fire, I'd be carried down a ladder by a woman. I have that prejudice, and it's definitely ingrained in me, based on a logical assessment of physical characteristics. But, strictly, that makes me a misogynist.

'Proper' misogyny is a very bad thing. But there's one national paper in the UK that bandies the word around whenever it feels like it, making all men feel like mysogynists. In my mind, that demeans the word.

 

[Glideslope]

I’d say a little improvement is required in Apple’s Vetting Process. Heaven forbid they knew this at the time of Onboarding and it took an internal revolt for action to be taken. I wish I felt confident none of this was known prior to the hire.

The level of angry Alpha Males in here is fascinating.

 

[MvdM]

What about when Apple signed that deal with Dr Dre?

“Since the release of the film “Straight Outta Compton,” rapper Dr. Dre has been under fire for decades-old allegations of misogyny and violence against women. Dre, who has served as an executive at Apple since it acquired Beats Electronics last year, issued a public apology to The New York Times. Apple lent Dre support in a statement, saying, “Dre has apologized for the mistakes he’s made in the past and he’s said that he’s not the same person that he was 25 years ago. We believe his sincerity and after working with him for a year and a half, we have every reason to believe that he has changed.”

Dre was exactly who I was going to reply about. What if this new guy just apologises?

 

[bklement]

He said most of the women in San Francisco are weak naive feminists who are full of ****.

He also described a woman as being curvy and dressing well.

Oh, the horrors! In my country the green-liberal PM candidate called the male PM short and fat, and liberals applauded. Labeling everything misogyny nowadays feels quite like misandry.

You can bet someone on the interview committee at Apple asked him "have you ever posted anything inflammatory?"....and then he lied.

Inflammatory to whom? Is there a gold standard?

And btw the daily dislike quota should be increased.

 

[chucker23n1]

I'm not sure I agree with this.

Haven't we all said things in the past we regret?

The rule seems to be don't get caught. I'm not a fan of that.

No. The rule is don’t write a book that expresses garbage views and then be surprised when you don’t get a high-ranking job.

I half-agree, but if you look at his book, it's clearly quite tongue in cheek and not to be taken literally.

That’s… way worse. Discrimination in IT isn’t a frigging punchline.

 

[swingerofbirch]

I trust Dr. Dre showed him the door.

 

[meteoreos]

“Siri, define boomer”

The state of some of these replies, yikes.

 

[matrix07]

So he worked there (I mean at Apple) for about 3 days? Wow, that was fast.

Here where I live, if someone gots hired and the company wants to fire him, he has a bit of protection by law.

I bet he‘ll get full compensation for his whole contract. It’s not his fault Apple hired him and fired him 3 days later. If he doesn’t get that he need to fire his lawyer..

 

[Td1970]

Why are you pretending I'm excusing misogyny?

Why do people do this?!

Please stop lying.

Feelings. Nothing else.