A top Apple executive has left the company after he was captured making an offensive joke about women in a viral TikTok video.
During a car show in Pebble Beach, California, this August, TikTok creator Daniel Mac, known for interviewing drivers about their exotic cars, asked a man sitting in a rare $500,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren what he did for a living.
“I have rich cars, play golf, and fondle big-breasted women, but I take weekends and major holidays off,” the man responded with a laugh.
“If you’re interested, I’ve got a hell of a dental plan,” he added.
“That is quite the career, I’m looking to get into that,” the cameraman says in response to the comments.
@itsdanielmac Quite the occupation this man has ✍️ #mercedesbenz #supercarstiktok #slr #car ♬ original sound – DANIEL MAC
The video, published in September, went viral, racking up more than 1 million views.
Apple employees soon realised the man in the clip was Tony Blevins, a 22-year veteran at the company who was vice-president of procurement and reported to top executives like CEO Tim Cook.
The executive, known internally by his nickname “The Blevinator,” confirmed it was him in the video to Bloomberg.
“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my mistaken attempt at humor,” he said.
Employees on the procurement team reportedly flagged the clip to the company’s human resources department.
According to Fortune, the comments appeared to be a quote from the 1981 film Arthur, where a character says, “I race cars, play tennis and fondle women, but I have weekends off and I am my own boss.”
The Blevinator has since left Apple, the company confirmed.
He was among a high-powered group of 100 top vice-presidents at the tech company.
He supervised a team of several hundred people, and was responsible for negotiating large-scale deal with Apple’s suppliers.
Daniel Mac’s TikTok channel has featured other even more high-profile run-ins, including bite-sized interviews with president Joe Biden, actor Brad Pitt, late night legend Jay Leno, and the CEO of luxury automaker Lamborghini.
Big Deal….
Sad that a simple joke would end a man 22 years career, but likely this post is BS and the man left for other reasons
Remember the story about NASA prohibiting self love in space?…that was BS
Unless you’re extremely thin skinned and a victim in just about everything, you should be able to see this comment for what it was. Just funny. You don’t have to like every joke. Wait until somebody doesn’t like what you have to say. Free speech is free speech for everybody, not just for those you agree with. This asinine practice of shutting down people’s careers because somebody is offended is just crazy. We have certainly raised an entitled generation that thinks everything they want is the most important thing and nobody else’s freedom is worth anything.
Wow! A truthful answer.