[Thread] Antonio García Martínez says he did not “part ways” with Apple, was fired in a snap decision, and Apple's statement on his exit is defamatory and false

I have thus far maintained my silence on the Apple situation as I've sought to settle things amicably with the company that I admired, and at which I hoped to build the future of ads privacy. As they however are not maintaining their silence on the matter, neither will I.

@antoniogm 2021-05-15

Context & Ripple Effects

Apple had publicly described Antonio García Martínez’s departure as a parting of ways after an employee petition cited misogynistic statements. García Martínez now contests that account, following Apple’s initial explanation of his departure, and says the company’s wording is false and defamatory.

The dispute shifts the episode from a hiring reversal into a public disagreement over how the exit itself is characterized, raising the stakes for both Apple’s employee-relations messaging and García Martínez’s professional reputation.

First-order effects

Apple and García Martínez now have directly conflicting public accounts of his departure, rather than a single company narrative.
García Martínez’s decision to speak after seeking an amicable resolution makes Apple’s original exit statement the central point of contention.

Second-order effects

The employee petition that preceded the departure is now inseparable from scrutiny of Apple’s hiring review and its handling of the subsequent termination.
Future public responses to employee-led objections at Apple face a higher reputational burden when an affected hire disputes the company’s account.

Third-order effects

The episode points to high-profile hiring reversals becoming public governance issues: employee activism, employer communications, and an individual’s rebuttal can all shape the lasting record of an internal personnel decision.

The trend: Employee-organized pressure is making prominent tech hiring decisions more publicly contestable, especially when companies and former hires dispute the terms of an exit.

Discussion

@williampietri William Pietri on x
Why hello, patriarchy! Let's dig in on this tweet, where one of the kings of Silicon Valley gives the the game away: https://twitter.com/...
@antoniogm @antoniogm on x
1. Apple actively recruited me for my role on the ads team, reaching out via a former colleague to convince me to join. Apple found my experience in the ads space, specifically around data and privacy, highly relevant to their efforts and persuaded me to leave my then role.
@nikitabier Nikita Bier on x
We will be burning copies of Chaos Monkeys this afternoon outside the Apple labor camp in the Xinjiang province. DM for details.
@inattani Tani Olhanoski on x
Wondering when this cancel culture i hear so much about will finally get to @paulg so i can stop hearing his bad takes on literally everything. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@antoniogm @antoniogm on x
2. I upended my life for Apple. I sold my WA residence which I built with my own hands, relocated myself, shut down any public media presence and future writing aspirations, and resolved to build my career at Apple for years to come.
@antoniogm @antoniogm on x
5. Apple has issued a statement that clearly implies there was some negative behavior by me during my time at Apple. That is defamatory and categorically false.
@lexinterior Alexis on x
If you've even been curious why I left the startup scene, this is a thorough examination of the reason - it's infested with these attitudes, dripping from the top down like rotting garbage left to fester in the searing sun. https://twitter.com/...
@mtaibbi Matt Taibbi on x
The people who start campaigns against people like Garcia-Martinez aren't idealists. They're just ordinary greedy Americans trying to get ahead, using the tactics available, and it's time to stop thinking of stories like this through any other lens. https://taibbi.substack.com/ .…
@nateliason Nat Eliason on x
Huge embarrassment for Apple, continuing to make decisions like this is going to dramatically reduce the quality of applicants they get in the future. https://twitter.com/...
@davidsacks David Sacks on x
If Steve Jobs wanted to hire someone, there is no way he would go back on his word to appease a mob of snowflake employees concocting a bogus excuse to be unhappy. By permitting this, Tim Cook shows what kind of CEO he is. https://twitter.com/...
@thatchrisryan Christopher Ryan on x
The heights of corporate hypocrisy (and mob lunacy) are truly amazing. https://twitter.com/...
@mtaibbi Matt Taibbi on x
Apple reached out to @antoniogm, not the other way around. He sold his house in Washington State as part of what he expected would be a long-term commitment to Apple. The company was fully aware of the book and its contents when it hired him. https://taibbi.substack.com/ ...
@kfury @kfury on x
Every single person I've seen defending Antonio García Martínez or vilifying the Apple employees who spoke out against his hiring is a guy.
@ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald on x
Imagine working at and collecting a salary from Apple — which has long benefited from slave labor-like conditions and sweatshops — and thinking you're morally qualified to condemn anyone, let alone unjustly wreck someone's reputation & get them fired like they just did: https://t…
@bdowney Brandon Downey on x
It's amazing how the powerful miss the point. The people signing the petitions *were* concerned about livelihoods — of the women (or just people; take a look at the quotes) who'd have to work with this guy. https://twitter.com/...
@razibkhan @razibkhan on x
good for antonio! a thing i regret about my own cancellation is i was quiet and brushed it off since i thought it was a weird freak event. it wasn't. i should been more clear, vocal, etc. i just didn't think i was a public person & would go back to obscurity. i know better now ht…
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Asked Apple PR for comment and they declined.
@nikitabier Nikita Bier on x
@antoniogm Remember us when you're a millionaire https://twitter.com/...
@edbott Ed Bott on x
As Friday news dumps go, this is pretty mediocre, but I will take it. https://twitter.com/...
@ricburton Ric Burton on x
If Steve Jobs were a teenager today, he would view Apple with the same derision as he viewed IBM They have a stranglehold on the mobile ecosystem They abuse their App Store power all the time The internal culture has shifted from product craft to performative wokeness Sad 😞 https…
@jason @jason on x
Predict he will get a $10m settlement https://twitter.com/...
@jhweissmann @jhweissmann on x
So I've been thinking more about Apple firing Antonio Garcia Martinez, and have changed my mind a bit. This might be a long thread. But the tl;dr is that the company should have given him a chance to keep his job, while canning someone from management. Now, a preface...
@aghamilton29 @aghamilton29 on x
Thread. If a company doesn't want to hire someone, they don't need to. But hiring them and then throwing them under the bus because a bunch of entitled unrelated employees decided they didn't like the hire is completely backwards. https://twitter.com/...
@antoniogm @antoniogm on x
3. Apple was well aware of my writing before hiring me. My references were questioned extensively about my bestselling book and my real professional persona (rather than literary one). This set of prominent Valley VCs and execs are all willing to assert as much under oath.
@pnjaban Harmeet K. Dhillon on x
[raised hand]
@curiouswavefn Ash Jogalekar on x
This reminds me of the Oppenheimer case where Oppenheimer's actions before the war which were public were brought up against him much later. At the very least it indicates sloppy background research; logically it means you didn't really have a problem but only caved in to the mob…
@lukejohnsonrcp Luke Johnson on x
A great article about the cowards and hypocrites who run Apple. https://twitter.com/...
@moorehn @moorehn on x
Reminder that everyone who is defending Antonio Garcia Martinez is doing so because they hate women too. Some of them may have internalized misogyny, some of them may have just good old-fashioned misogyny, but they're all, frankly, scared of women and they're showing that.
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
Through this drama, Apple has opened a window that peers into its ambitions for expanding its ad network. This could create an enormous headache for the company, given that FB is incentivized to highlight its potentially anti-competitive behavior. https://twitter.com/...
@wolfejosh Josh Wolfe on x
I prefer cultures where if you write a book and your words are public you are given a chance to defend yourself against concerns and a cooling off period before being fired. CONTENT of your character not mischaracterized CONTENT. https://twitter.com/...
@spakhm Slava Akhmechet on x
I don't know if this will shift from the court of public opinion to the court of law, but either way it will be a landmark case people will study decades from now. Anyone of any influence in SV supports Antonio. About time someone pushed back against the vultures and won 💪🚀 https…
@patrickmoorhead Patrick Moorhead on x
This will be interesting to see how this plays out. FWIW, Apple doesn't win *everything*. It has lost some high profile and low profile lawsuits. It does win more than it loses, though. https://twitter.com/...
@davidsacks David Sacks on x
It's the #1 Best Seller in its category on Amazon. *Of course* Apple knew what it was getting. They didn't have a problem with it until the mob formed. Then to justify their cravenness, they publicly smear him. What a way to make HR decisions. https://twitter.com/...
@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
Antonio Garcia Martinez says Apple was “well aware” of his writing and was hired anyways. https://twitter.com/...
@joehewitt Joe Hewitt on x
The surprising part of this story is that Antonio wanted to work for Apple in the first place. https://twitter.com/...
@davidsacks David Sacks on x
Required reading if you really want to understand what AGM wrote and what happened at Apple. https://twitter.com/...
@antoniogm @antoniogm on x
4. I did not ‘part ways’ with Apple. I was fired by Apple in a snap decision.
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
I talked to Antonio Garcia Martinez about getting hired by Apple in April, fired by Apple in May, and repentance. https://podcasts.apple.com/...
@dwr Dan Romero on x
Don't pick a fight with a man who wrote a best-selling book, has 60K Twitter followers and a Substack. https://twitter.com/...
@epro Emil Protalinski on x
Why Apple fired Antonio is clear. I'm more interested in why Apple hired him in the first place: https://www.getrevue.co/... https://twitter.com/...
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
Apple needs to either settle *quickly* (for likely a very large sum of money) or risk having its playbook for ads expansion published to the public
@sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x
Apple could & likely does hire ex Google and FB ads people to build its ads tracking biz. Hiring the one high profile guy who is very vocal about tracking while crusading against FB and in the middle of antitrust case was a bold choice and very telling

Chronicles