Apple Fires Antonio García Martínez Following Employee Backlash

Earlier this week, it was reported that Apple had hired former Facebook product manager Antonio García Martínez to join the ad targeting team. Now, it appears as though the company has cut ties with García Martínez following employee backlash and an investigation into a history of misogyny and racism.

According to a report from The Verge, Apple employees created a petition directed at higher-ups to look into García Martínez’s past endeavours. Beyond working for Facebook from 2011 to 2013, García Martínez was a writer who published a book titled ‘Chaos Monkey’ Subject matter within his autobiography raised concerns due to sexist and racist remarks.

More than 2000 employees signed the petition. In it, employees urged an investigation to take place.

“We are deeply concerned about the recent hiring of Antonio García Martínez,” employees wrote in the petition. “His misogynistic statements in his autobiography — such as ‘Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of s—’ — directly oppose Apple’s commitment to Inclusion & Diversity.”

Apple employees have no shortage of ammo to include in the petition. Multiple examples and quotes from García Martínez’s book were pulled and included in the petition. Another report from The Verge includes a copy of the full letter directed at Eddy Cue plus “Inclusion and Diversity champions”.

Soon after the petition began gaining traction within the company, García Martínez’s slack channel was deactivated. The ad targeting team of which García Martínez was a part had an emergency meeting. It was here that the company confirmed that García Martínez would no longer be employed by the company.

In a statement, an Apple representative stated, “At Apple, we have always strived to create an inclusive, welcoming workplace where everyone is respected and accepted. Behaviour that demeans or discriminates against people for who they are has no place here.”

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