Apple Parts Ways With Newly Hired Ex-Facebook Employee
Apple parts ways with newly hired ex-Facebook employee after workers cite 'misogynistic' writing
Apple let go of a new employee this week after thousands of employees petitioned the company to look into how the man was hired, despite the fact that the man had previously published an autobiography that contained misogynistic statements.
Antonio Garca Martnez, who previously worked at Facebook as a product manager for ad targeting and is the author of the 2016 autobiography "Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley," joined Apple's advertising team in April, according to his LinkedIn profile.
From 2010 to 2014, Garca Martnez's book chronicles his life in the San Francisco Bay Area's tech scene. He began his career at Goldman Sachs as a quantitative strategist before moving to Silicon Valley, where he eventually founded and sold an ad-tech startup, AdGrok, to Twitter. Between 2011 and 2013, he worked at Facebook as a product manager. Along with his book, Garca Martnez has contributed to publications such as Wired.
Business Insider reported on Garca Martnez's new position on Monday, citing his LinkedIn profile. By Tuesday evening, several Apple employees had circulated an internal "letter of concern," citing several problematic passages in Garca Martnez's "Chaos Monkeys." According to a letter obtained by CNN Business, the employees argued that the passages contradict Apple's commitment to inclusion.
Demonstration of Concern on the Letter
To demonstrate their point, the letter — which was first reported on Wednesday by tech news site The Verge after garnering over 2,000 employee signatures — included excerpts from his writing.
"The majority of women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of s**t," one sentence from "Chaos Monkeys" read. "They have their self-centered entitlement feminism and perpetually extol their independence," it continued, "but the reality is that in the event of an epidemic or foreign invasion, they would become precisely the sort of useless baggage you'd trade for a box of shotgun shells or a jerry can of diesel."
Another book excerpt cited in the letter discussed startup funding and included the following sentence: "To use an analogy, a capped note is analogous to seducing five women sequentially, whereas an equity round is analogous to convincing five women to do a sixsome with you."
"We are profoundly disturbed by the implications of this hire for Apple's commitment to diversity and inclusion, as well as the direct and immediate impact on those who work near Mr. Garca Martnez. It casts doubt on key components of Apple's inclusion system, such as hiring panels, background checks, and our process for ensuring that our existing culture of inclusion is robust enough to withstand individuals who do not share our inclusive values "examine the letter.
In addition, it requested that the company conduct an investigation into how Garca Martnez's "published views on women and people of color were overlooked or ignored" during the hiring process and develop a "clear plan of action to prevent this from happening again."
"Given Mr. Garca Martnez's history of making overtly racist and sexist remarks about former colleagues, we are concerned that his presence at Apple will contribute to an unsafe working environment for our colleagues who face public harassment and private bullying," the letter added.
Garca Martnez did not immediately respond to CNN Business's request for comment, though he appeared to view a direct message sent to his verified Twitter profile.
CNN Business (then CNN Money) reviewed "Chaos Monkeys" in June 2016, stating that it reads like four years' worth of "Medium posts from a scorned man."
While employees at tech companies such as Google and Facebook have occasionally spoken out publicly about internal culture issues in recent years, this episode represents a rare display of dissent among Apple's workforce.
Numerous Apple employees took to Twitter on Wednesday to discuss the situation openly, highlighting how critical some felt it was for the company to address the issue.
"I chose this letter over another method because, while I trust Apple's culture and my leadership to do the right thing, this was blatantly contradictory to that trust and those feelings," Cher, an Apple engineer who requested anonymity for privacy reasons, told CNN Business.
Apple confirmed to CNN Business on Wednesday night that Garca Martnez has left the company.
"Apple has always strived to foster an inclusive, welcoming work environment that values diversity and acceptance. There is no place here for behavior that denigrates or discriminates against people for who they are "According to an Apple spokesman.
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