Apple said that Antonio Garcia Martinez, its recent hire and former Facebook product manager, is no longer with the company. It comes after its employees petition him out for his sexist views.
The newly hired engineer left Apple after an employee backlash, Apple Insider reports. Employees filed a petition questioning the hiring of Garcia Martinez.
Garcia Martinez wrote in his book "Chaos Monkeys," a tell-all of his stint in Silicon Valley, that: "Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of shit."
Around 2,000 Apple employees, in a petition, said that the statement is opposite the company's commitment to Diversity & Inclusion. They also questioned the hiring panels and their processes in maintaining a safety culture in their workplace.
"We demand an investigation into how his published views on women and people of color were missed or ignored, along with a clear plan of action to prevent this from happening again," the employees said in a statement first seen by The Verge.
According to The Verge, Martine's Slack account was deactivated amid the petition circulation.
Apple and Inclusivity
The company, in response, confirmed in a statement the misogynistic new hire is no longer with them. However, no further details were given.
"At Apple, we have always strived to create an inclusive, welcoming workplace where everyone is respected and accepted," Apple said in a statement via Reuters. "Behavior that demeans or discriminates against people for who they are has no place here."
Separately, Apple claims diversity is their company's priority. According to a diversity report in 2020 via Apple Insider, a total of 34% of Apple's workforce are women. On the other hand, Asian employees comprise 27%.
Who is Garcia Martinez?
Garcia Martiness, worked for Facebook's ad product team in 2011 and 2013, Apple Insider reports. His efforts are focused on the targeting efforts of Facebook's advertising.
He is supposed to be working with the advertising technology in Apple's App Store, and other services such as Apple News, and Apple Stocks.
Apple and Advertising
Apple could be expanding its advertising business. It was recently reported by TechCrunch that the company added ad slots in the app marketplace.
It comes, coincidentally, as Apple launched a new privacy feature that Facebook has been criticizing. The said feature is limiting the social network's ability to effectively target its users for advertising.
After hiring Garcia Martinez, Apple also opened about 50 roles for the ad platform of the company, Apple Insider reported. It hints that the Cupertino giant is, indeed, expanding the said platform.
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Written by Teejay Boris
