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A former big wig at Tinder, who says the other execs at the mobile dating app company terrorized her, is suing the company for sexual harassment and discrimination.
Whitney Wolfe, a co-founder of the company and former marketing vice president, filed a lawsuit today today in L.A. Superior Court. She says co-founder and marketing chief Justin Mateen said that having a 24-year-old woman as a co-founder of Tinder made the company "seem like a joke." Mateen and CEO Sean Rad subjected her to sexist, racist and inappropriate comments, and that the execs represented "the worst of the misogynist, alpha-male stereotype too often associated with technology startups," according to the complaint.
Wolfe said that her complaints were ignored by Rad, and this harassment eventually led to her getting fired. According to the lawsuit:
Although Ms. Wolfe repeatedly complained to CEO Rad, he ignored her complaints, dismissing her as “annoying” and “dramatic,” and threatened her job. Ms. Wolfe finally broke down the night that Mr. Mateen called her a “whore” at a company event, and she offered to resign in consideration for modest severance and the vesting of her stock. Mr. Rad snidely rejected the offer and fired her.
Not only Tinder is getting thrown in the fire—IAC and Match.com are also named in the lawsuit since they're the parent companies of Tinder.
UPDATE July 1, 12:00 p.m.: IAC has put Mateen on leave, according to USA Today:
"Immediately upon receipt of the allegations contained in Ms. Wolfe's complaint, Mr. Mateen was suspended pending an ongoing internal investigation," IAC said in an emailed statement. "Through that process, it has become clear that Mr. Mateen sent private messages to Ms. Wolfe containing inappropriate content. We unequivocally condemn these messages, but believe that Ms. Wolfe's allegations with respect to Tinder and its management are unfounded."
