New York-based CEO and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, Cindy Gallop, has hit back at GiveTree founder, Sam Joel after a series of offensive comments he made on LinkedIn regarding women in Australia’s tech industry.
Screenshots that were viewed by The Australian Financial Review showed Joel telling Third Hemisphere founder and managing director Hannah Moreno to “Get off your period. Get good. Earn your salary with skill, not PR lol. Pathetic”.
In response to another comment, Joel said, “Are you single? Should we make a better baby? […] Assuming I wanna bang you because, let’s be honest – you look. Fat”.
In another post, Joel denied a gender imbalance in the workplace, saying: “[diversity] might be the dumbest shit of the entire century” and that women “have somehow secured majority employment in most verticals now. And still. Complaining. Classic women”.
Gallop was appalled by the comments, calling out LinkedIn for allowing them to appear on the platform at all. “It’s not about bringing diversity and inclusion into tech. It’s about kicking the sexists, misogynists, racists, sexual harassers, bullies, homophobes, ableists OUT,” she said.
“And LinkedIn, LinkedIn Help, you need to clean up YOUR act pronto,” she said, directly tagging the LinkedIn and LinkedIn Help profile pages.
Gallop appealed directly to some of the women who were targeted by the comments, congratulating them for their strength in speaking out against Joel. “Well done Elaine Stead, Hannah Moreno and all the other women who spoke up and called out Sam Joel of GiveTree’s gobsmackingly appalling behaviour” she said.
Gallop is a prolific name in the advertising world, recently appearing at SXSW Sydney. Cindy is a proud advocate for diversity, frequently working with companies who want to lead the diversity agenda within their sector.
A spokesperson for LinkedIn told B&T; “As a professional network, our members rightly expect their experience on LinkedIn to be professional in nature and any form of harassment. When we see content or behaviour that violates our Professional Community Policies, we take action, including the removal of content or the permanent restriction of an account for repeated abusive behaviour. To create a safe experience for everyone in our community, we’ve also deployed new technology to detect harassment in private messages and give members an easy means to signal to us that it’s an unwanted message, allowing us to take appropriate action against the sender”.
On Sunday evening, Joel’s comments were deleted, and on Monday, GiveTree issued an apology on his behalf. “Unfortunately, these recent comments form part of a larger and ongoing pattern of behaviour for Sam that urgently needs to change,” the LinkedIn post reads.
The apology also detailed Joel’s plans to attend therapy to address his misogynistic attitude toward women and notes that he has been facing recent difficulties following a period of homelessness and the death of a family member.
