"Racing cars, playing tennis, and fondling big-breasted women": Apple fires vice president over bad joke in TikTok
On Instagram and TikTok a video, the main character of which was one of Apple's top executives Tony Blevins, became viral. And after that he lost his job.
Here's What We Know
The video was shot at a car show Blevins attended last month in Pebble Beach, California. A blogger stopped Tony as he parked his Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a discontinued sports car that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. The blogger asked what he did for a living that he could afford such a car. To which Blevins replied, ""I have rich cars, play golf and fondle big-breasted women, but I take weekends and major holidays off"
This seems to be a reference to a line from the 1981 film Arthur Bach, where the main character Arthur Bach describes his career: ""I race cars, play tennis and fondle women, but I have weekends off and I am my own boss".
In fact, Tony Blevins is Apple's vice president for purchasing and is responsible for closing deals with suppliers and partners. He was part of Apple's group of about 100 vice presidents and one of about 30 executives who report to either Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook or Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams. He is a true Apple veteran, as he worked for the company for 22 years.
The video made quite a stir not only on social networks, but also in the company itself. As a result, Blevins was first suspended, and then he was fired, as Apple supports gender equality. By the way, the video got over 40,000 likes on Instagram and 1.3 million views on TikTok.
Blevins himself confirmed his dismissal and apologized to anyone who might have been offended by his attempted joke.
According to employees familiar with his work, he has been an integral part of the company's success over the past two decades, helping Apple increase its profit margins and gain access to core technology ahead of competitors. They said he might be hard to replace, given his understanding of Apple's supply chain and his negotiating skills.
Source: Bloomberg
