The Uber board member who made a sexist joke during a meeting about how to curb sexism within the company resigned Tuesday.
David Bonderman’s resignation was reported by the New York Times and later confirmed in a statement released by the former employee.
In his letter, Bonderman calls his comment “careless, inappropriate, and inexcusable.”
So… This just happened at @Uber's all-hands meeting. @YahooFinance's @JPManga got some leaked audio. 6:40 min https://t.co/QHXOp7TU0h pic.twitter.com/bqBLonNp49
— Julia La Roche (@JuliaLaRoche) June 13, 2017
Bonderman says the joke didn’t come across as he intended but that he takes full responsibility for the destructive effect it had.
https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/874798757321113601
The joke was a reply to board member Arianna Huffington, who was speaking about increasing female representation on Uber’s board. The company only recently hired its second female board member in Wan Ling Martello, previously an executive at Nestle. Huffington said on Twitter that she appreciated Bonderman’s decision to step down.
I appreciate David doing the right thing for Uber at this time of critical cultural changes at the company. https://t.co/jCw0y9tBYY
— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) June 14, 2017
Bonderman’s joke immediately spurred outrage across social media yesterday.
https://twitter.com/meninakk/status/874977051840827393
Wtf is wrong with the people at this company? David Bonderman Resigns From Uber Board After Sexist Remark, @nytimes https://t.co/blM1JkCTR9
— Melissa Grillo Aruz (@MelGrilloAruz) June 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/ColleenKIROFM/status/874973497960710144
His poorly calculated comments came just hours after Eric Holder released his recommendations to Uber following an investigation into sexual harassment allegations. Uber’s board members approved all 47 recommendations, many of which discuss ways of increasing diversity within the company and establishing a zero-tolerance policy for harassment.