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Apple VP Cancelled for Crude Remarks on TikTok

13 points by smugma 4y ago

dullcrisp 4y ago
Why is everyone here pointing out that it was joke as though Apple fired him because they thought that he was actually fondling women all day, and not because of what he said? This case aside, where do people get the idea that anyone can say anything they want without consequence so long as it’s a joke? I guess that’s why every corporate HR training has to explain in painful detail that words are actionable even if you’re joking.
smugma 4y ago
He was roughly quoting the movie Arthur: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vMsjd0ccM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vMsjd0ccM
- PM_me_your_math 4y ago
logicalmonster 4y ago
1) It feels very wrong that somebody's career can be shot for an obvious joke. As far as I understand it, there's not even an allegation of actual wrongdoing, just a joke that a few chose to feign outrage over. 2) Somebody on Blevin's level will probably be okay no matter what. But I feel especially badly for average people caught up in the crossfire of the Twitter mob. An average Joe caught in the crossfire of the outrage mob is fucked. I certainly don't want to live in that world. 3) Do the people pushing the outrage machine think that they're immunized from this machine? 4) Do the people pushing the outrage machine genuinely want to live in a humorless society where you have to be super-careful about anything you ever say, anywhere? I can't stand this bland fakery everywhere. 5) Boo towards Apple for taking the path of least resistance and just giving in to the outrage mob. Has Tim Cook or other executives never made the tiniest joke before?
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  Given that this seems to be an emergent phenomena of social media/free speech, you might as well be complaining about the weather for all the difference anyone can make.
  - logicalmonster 4y ago
    And? Should I not comment or what? We're humans. We all talk about lots of problems we can't directly solve, whether its war or the environment or anything else.
    - hotpotamus 4y ago
      I'd say you're as free to comment as the twitter mob is.
unethical_ban 4y ago
God damn this behavior of witch hunting. And God damn the idiots at Apple who don't allow any semblance of personality outside their handbook to be expressed by employees at any time.
lapcat 4y ago
The submission title is editorialized. Article title: "Top Apple Executive Is Leaving After Making Crude Remarks in TikTok Video" Also, it's a dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33026355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33026355 (22 comments)
- smugma 4y ago
  You’re right, it is editorialized. But it’s a more direct source, the MacRumors article points to the Bloomberg one.
  - lapcat 4y ago
    > You’re right, it is editorialized. Could you please use the original title? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - smugma 4y ago
      Will do so going forward, but I can't edit it. If this can be edited and merged with the other submission, that probably makes the most sense.
egberts1 4y ago
Taking a contrarian position of something that I strongly believed to be a joke taken too seriously at a place faraway from the work. However, it was at a public place. And unquestionably so. As I recall, nearly all CEOs have a “labor” contract which have onerous clauses that stipulates “public behavior”. And it goes by many names: - Behavior Rules - Morality Clause - Employee Conduct - Standard of Behavior And the one that was probably broken is the part about making other top-level CxOs and its company looking bad. This is why being a leader is a lonely place (at least for me).
- smugma 4y ago
  VP, not C level. He didn’t give his name let alone his employer. He actually did the opposite. He didn’t state any beliefs or use profanity, he made a crass joke and apologized.
  - egberts1 4y ago
    I got that too. But if the other VPs got “irked”, that’s ground enough for a petition for dismissal. Sucks to be a VP.
sn0w_crash 4y ago
I see a push coming for professionals to move away from social media entirely or at a minimum, go private. This stuff is happening too frequently for it to be sustainable.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

13 points by smugma 4y ago

Why is everyone here pointing out that it was joke as though Apple fired him because they thought that he was actually fondling women all day, and not because of what he said? This case aside, where do people get the idea that anyone can say anything they want without consequence so long as it’s a joke? I guess that’s why every corporate HR training has to explain in painful detail that words are actionable even if you’re joking.

smugma 4y ago

He was roughly quoting the movie Arthur: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vMsjd0ccM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vMsjd0ccM

PM_me_your_math 4y ago

logicalmonster 4y ago

1) It feels very wrong that somebody's career can be shot for an obvious joke. As far as I understand it, there's not even an allegation of actual wrongdoing, just a joke that a few chose to feign outrage over. 2) Somebody on Blevin's level will probably be okay no matter what. But I feel especially badly for average people caught up in the crossfire of the Twitter mob. An average Joe caught in the crossfire of the outrage mob is fucked. I certainly don't want to live in that world. 3) Do the people pushing the outrage machine think that they're immunized from this machine? 4) Do the people pushing the outrage machine genuinely want to live in a humorless society where you have to be super-careful about anything you ever say, anywhere? I can't stand this bland fakery everywhere. 5) Boo towards Apple for taking the path of least resistance and just giving in to the outrage mob. Has Tim Cook or other executives never made the tiniest joke before?

hotpotamus 4y ago
Given that this seems to be an emergent phenomena of social media/free speech, you might as well be complaining about the weather for all the difference anyone can make.
- logicalmonster 4y ago
  And? Should I not comment or what? We're humans. We all talk about lots of problems we can't directly solve, whether its war or the environment or anything else.
  - hotpotamus 4y ago
    I'd say you're as free to comment as the twitter mob is.

unethical_ban 4y ago

God damn this behavior of witch hunting. And God damn the idiots at Apple who don't allow any semblance of personality outside their handbook to be expressed by employees at any time.

lapcat 4y ago

The submission title is editorialized. Article title: "Top Apple Executive Is Leaving After Making Crude Remarks in TikTok Video" Also, it's a dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33026355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33026355 (22 comments)

smugma 4y ago
You’re right, it is editorialized. But it’s a more direct source, the MacRumors article points to the Bloomberg one.
- lapcat 4y ago
  > You’re right, it is editorialized. Could you please use the original title? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - smugma 4y ago
    Will do so going forward, but I can't edit it. If this can be edited and merged with the other submission, that probably makes the most sense.

egberts1 4y ago

Taking a contrarian position of something that I strongly believed to be a joke taken too seriously at a place faraway from the work. However, it was at a public place. And unquestionably so. As I recall, nearly all CEOs have a “labor” contract which have onerous clauses that stipulates “public behavior”. And it goes by many names: - Behavior Rules - Morality Clause - Employee Conduct - Standard of Behavior And the one that was probably broken is the part about making other top-level CxOs and its company looking bad. This is why being a leader is a lonely place (at least for me).

smugma 4y ago
VP, not C level. He didn’t give his name let alone his employer. He actually did the opposite. He didn’t state any beliefs or use profanity, he made a crass joke and apologized.
- egberts1 4y ago
  I got that too. But if the other VPs got “irked”, that’s ground enough for a petition for dismissal. Sucks to be a VP.

sn0w_crash 4y ago

I see a push coming for professionals to move away from social media entirely or at a minimum, go private. This stuff is happening too frequently for it to be sustainable.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]