Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder, has decided to step down from the board of directors. He has taken this decision to support the ongoing protest in the US. He has also said that he asked Reddit to replace his position by a black candidate.
He announced his decision on Twitter. “I co-founded @reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging. It is long overdue to do the right thing. I’m doing this for me, for my family, and for my country,” Ohanian tweeted. He also said in a video “I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now. To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.”
He also would be donating $1m (~Rs. 7.5 crores) to Know Your Rights Camp, a non-profit started by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He’s also said that he will be using the money he makes from his stocks to “serve the black community. “I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: ‘What did you do?’,” he added.
Ohanian’s resignation comes less than a week after former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao called out the current CEO Steve Huffman for not shutting down a subreddit that has been promoting Donald Trump.
“I am obligated to call you out: You should have shut down the_donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence. So much of what is happening now lies at your feet. You don’t get to say BLM when Reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all day long,” Pao wrote on Twitter.
