Uber’s board of directors met Tuesday to discuss the ways they will address the company’s complaints about sexual harassment and discrimination; however, it seems one board member couldn’t sit through the entire meeting without cracking a sexist joke.
Here’s how it went down: Arianna Huffington, the sole woman on Uber’s board, announced the appointment of Nestle executive Wan Ling Martello. According to audio obtained by Yahoo! Finance, Huffington said that by adding another female director, there was a strong chance that more women would follow.
“There’s a lot of data that shows when there’s one woman on the board, it’s much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board,” she told the board.
Uber board member David Bonderman followed the statement with: “Actually what it shows is it’s much likely to be more talking.”
Huffington responded: “Oh. Come on, David.”
Following his sad attempt at a joke, Bonderman announced his resignation and issued an apology to Uber employees via email, according to the New York Times.
“I want to apologize to my fellow board member for a disrespectful comment that was directed at her during today’s discussion,” the billionaire founding partner of TPG Capital wrote. “It was inappropriate. I also want to apologize to all Uber employees who were offended by the remark. I deeply regret it.”
Huffington released a statement to the Times, insisting she supported 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," she wrote.
