Ellen Pao: Victoria Taylor was fired for sexist comments

On Thursday night, one of the most popular subreddits on Reddit, /r/IAmA , was shut down after its moderator, Victoria Taylor was unexpectedly terminated from her position. Since then, hundreds of subreddits have united and followed suit, shutting down their subreddits in protest of what they deem an unfair dismissal.

Victoria Taylor has long been the moderator at /r/IAmA and has been seen by man as an integral part of the subreddit wherein users, celebrities and otherwise, are allowed to create “Ask Me Anything”-events. The newly incumbent CEO of Reddit, Ellen Pao is apparently behind the firing and this is not her first drastic measure since she took the internet throne – in June, several subreddits that were regarded as too controversial were shut down. Now, Ellen Pao has finally shed some light as why she decided to fire Victoria Taylor. This is what she had to say in a press release: “Victoria Taylor was fired for some inappropriate, sexist, comments she made at a social gathering for Reddit Employees. I decided that terminating Victoria was the only logical step as Reddit cannot employ people who hold misogynistic views and who express them in an attempt at humor as it does not align with our values as a company. Victoria Taylor has not been the model employee that many seem to believe her to have been and I cannot do anything but express that we thank her for her service but are happy to see her go.”

When she was subsequently questioned about exactly what Victoria said by the newspaper BiWeekly Inquirer, Pao gave this answer. “Victoria insinuated to a fellow employee that it would be harder for her to find a man now that she has turned 30 - this obviously supports the myth that women lose value as they age. We cannot employ people who think this way”

Ellen Pao’s comments have galvanized outrage online, with many calling her reason for firing Victoria “petty”, “childish” and even “insane”. A plethora of redditors have taken to Twitter, tweeting under the hashtag #RedditRevolt in order to show their protest for Ellen Pao’s action. This is what one user had to say: “So she’s sexist for making a JOKE? Okay Ellen, you’re literally the worst person ever”

This story is still developing, but we will update you as further reactions to Ellen Pao’s statement emerge.