GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney is embroiled in a maelstrom of controversy and backlash after sending an email that urged any employee who supports President-elect Donald Trump’s behaviors and campaign rhetoric to resign. He’s since deleted a tweet about the situation and clarified his thoughts in a statement released Thursday morning.
In the email, Maloney called Trump “the antithesis of every modern presidential candidate” and that he “rejects the nationalist, anti-immigrant and hateful politics of Donald Trump and will work to shield our community from this movement as best as I can.” That’s a good thing, but he sorta pulled a “Trump” of his own by asserting that “[i]f you do not agree with this statement then please reply to this email with your resignation because you have no place here,” no doubt causing any number of employees to shamefully remove their red “Make America Great Again” hats.
Sent on Wednesday, a day everyone would’ve been better off staying off the internet, the email was quickly picked up by—guess who?—Fox News, who quoted Maloney as saying he was “not embarrassed by it” and wanted to “reassure our employees that our company will actively support diversity and inclusion—regardless of national politics.”
Like a Babylonian incantation, however, Maloney’s letter awakened the dregs of Twitter, who emerged from their bogs, keyboards in hand, to boycott the company and dub Maloney a Nazi. On Thursday, Maloney tweeted: “Grubhub does not tolerate hate and we are proud of all our employees—even those who voted for Trump.” It was later deleted, followed by a statement that attempted to soften the language in the original email and assert that no employees would be fired or prompted to resign for their support of Trump.
“Some of the statements in my email… have been misconstrued,” he writes. “I want to clarify that I did not ask for anyone to resign if they voted for Trump. I would never make such a demand. To the contrary, the message of the email is that we do not tolerate discriminatory activity or hateful commentary in the workplace, and that we will stand up for our employees.” And, with that, everyone moved on.
Just kidding! Now people are actively trying to tank GrubHub’s stock.