On the heels of his decision to annotate the 141-page memoir of UCSB killer Elliot Rodger, Rap Genius Co-founder Mahbod Moghadam resigned today through a statement on the Rap Genius website. Co-Founder and CEO Tom Lehman explained the decision:
In light of this, Mahbod has resigned – both in his capacity as an employee of the company, and as a member of our board of directors, effective immediately.
"Were Mahbod’s annotations posted by a new Rap Genius user, it would be up to our community leaders, who set the tone of the site and our approach to annotation, to delete them and explain to the new user why they were unacceptable.
Were Mahbod’s annotations posted by a Rap Genius moderator, that person would cease to be an effective community leader and would have to step down.
And Mahbod, our original community leader, is no exception. In light of this, Mahbod has resigned – both in his capacity as an employee of the company, and as a member of our board of directors, effective immediately."
Mahbod's annotations were many times confusing and oddly positive ("This is an artful sentence, beautifully written"), and screen shots grabbed by Gawker along with an overwhelmingly negative public response led to his quick departure from the Rap Genius boardroom.
[via Rap Genius]
