His phone vibrated as he was walking back to his office. He was feeling good. At least his company was still on his side. They believed him, and that was all that mattered right now. He looked at his phone—it was a Slack notification from Jason. Hey, man, I have Teddy Rosen coming up—he wants to chat. Cool to do it in your office?
What the hell, Mack thought. Teddy Rosen was coming up? And why was Jason coordinating the meeting?
A couple minutes later, Jason walked into his office with not only Teddy Rosen but also James Patel. “Nice space,” James said. “Mind if we sit?” He gestured to the couch.
“Uh, no, go ahead,” Mack said. Did his voice really sound hoarse? And…were his palms sweating? His palms were sweating.
“Thanks for meeting with us on such short notice,” James said. “Just…given recent events, we felt it would be best if we, you know, nipped this situation in the bud. Given that we are about to make a substantial investment in your company.” James smiled. Mack nodded. “Jason mentioned you just spoke to the staff—that’s good. But we need you to also make a public apology, own up to what happened and be contrite. It was a lapse in judgment that will never happen again, you apologize, maybe we have you make a donation to some women’s organization. Maybe something that works with girls in tech? My wife can probably help with that. Anyway, in the meantime, we need to reach out to Isabel and offer her a settlement.”
“A settlement?” Mack said. “That seems crazy. Isn’t that just an admission of wrongdoing?”
“We don’t need to admit to the specifics, but if she has the texts, this isn’t going away,” James said. “It’s not a ‘he said, she said’ situation. Your other option is to claim you were hacked, which, frankly, no one is going to believe.”
“Yeah, no. We’re not telling the world my phone got hacked. That would just be embarrassing.” Mack suddenly remembered something. “What if we just went full scorched-earth? Something like this happened at the company my buddy founded and he fought it tooth and nail, and the girl who brought the suit ended up completely regretting it. Like…technically, yes, I think she got a settlement, but this girl was destroyed. She’ll never get another job. Her boyfriend dumped her, I think she moved back home to Minnesota or wherever she was from. And she even admitted after that if she had to do it over, she never would have gone to trial. My buddy was like, we told you! We said this is not going to be good for you to go to trial, there are going to be things that come out that you’re not going to like, and we are not going to hold back. And she said, Bring it on. So they did. And so everything she had texted, emailed, said in front of people was admissible. Her behavior in past relationships was admissible. They got her ex-boyfriend to come on the stand and testify that she’d stalked him after they broke up—it demonstrated a pattern of irrational behavior.” He looked at everyone excitedly. Surely they understood that this was a viable option. “There’s all kinds of shit you can do.”
Jason, Teddy, and James glanced at one another. Finally, James spoke. “I’m not sure that’s necessarily the most prudent tack right now,” he said carefully.
“Fuck prudent!” Mack said. “I’m done being prudent. Being prudent is what got me here.”
“Is it, though,” Teddy mumbled. James shot him a look. Teddy shrugged.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Mack said.
“As I said, I would not advise that we go that route,” James said smoothly. “And…there’s actually something else we’d like to discuss.” He paused a millisecond longer than felt comfortable and then said, “We’ve discussed this with the rest of the partners, and we think that what’s best for TakeOff right now is if you step down as CEO.”
His heart felt like it was falling—actually falling—into his stomach. He gulped. Was this why they had ambushed him like this? Was this whole thing a setup? They didn’t really care what he thought they should do, he realized suddenly—they were just trying to rile him up to make him look bad. What a crock of shit. “Excuse me? Step down as CEO? That’s…no. No. I’m sorry, that’s just not an option.” He shook his head. “No.”
There was silence again. Finally, Teddy spoke. “You have to understand,” he said slowly, “we are about to make a substantial investment in this company, and all of this stuff”—he gestured around him—“is a huge, huge distraction. And whatever the merits of the case are, even you must be able to see that the optics of it are terrible.”
“We’re in a very male-hostile moment,” James said matter-of-factly. “I’m sure you’re aware of it.”
“What do you mean, ‘male-hostile moment’?” Mack said.
“It’s social media. It’s regular media. It’s everywhere. People are just very, very ready to be suspicious of men and men’s motives right now,” James said. “Look, you were in our office. How many women were in our meeting with you?” He didn’t wait for Mack to answer. “We hear about this constantly—that there aren’t enough women in tech. That there aren’t enough female founders. That there are three VC partners in all of New York City who are women. And it’s not like these things are my fault, or your fault! It’s really a pipeline issue, and that’s something that I can’t fix today, or tomorrow, or next week. But people want it to get fixed yesterday. That’s the problem.” James sighed. “I’ll be perfectly honest with you. It’s just not a good time to be a straight white guy getting accused of sexual harassment.”
“I guess I should jump in my time machine, then.” Mack laughed halfheartedly at his own joke, but everyone else was silent.
“It’s no joke, Mack,” James said. “Guys with bigger companies and more funding at stake than you have lost everything. Everything. Think about it—anyone can be accused of sexual harassment! By anyone! You barely even need to have proof! Because once people find out that you’ve been accused, it’s all over Twitter, it’s all over the blogs, it’s on cable news, and you’re presumed guilty until proven innocent. And even when you’re proven innocent, that’s still not enough. These people, they will go after you.” He paused, as though he hadn’t expected himself to unleash this tirade, and seemed to gather his thoughts. “Look, Mack, we still believe in you. We just think that it’s better for the company if you step aside as CEO.”
Breathe, Mack told himself. Count to three and exhale. “That is bullshit and you know it,” he said. James looked surprised. Teddy and Jason were both very much not looking at him. “Why should I have to pay because the world is messed up? The fact that there’s no female partner at Gramercy has nothing to do with my situation. And I’m going to deal with it! I’ll make the public apology. We can put together a settlement for Isabel. I’ll do whatever it takes. This is going to go away, and when it does you’re going to be sorry that we even had this conversation. I’m not going to be bullied into giving up my company.”
“This is, unfortunately, not negotiable,” James said calmly. “Either you step down as CEO, or we rescind our term sheet.”
Mack looked at each person in the room. Surely one of them would be on his side, but none of them, not even Jason, met his gaze.
“And one other thing,” James said. “We’d like Jason to take over as CEO immediately. You are welcome to stay on in a senior-level role to be determined.”
Oh. So that’s what this was. A coup. He realized Jason hadn’t said anything in the entire meeting so far. He must have known this was coming. “You asshole,” Mack said to Jason. “All of that stuff about how we were going to get through this—what was that? Just total bullshit? Or…or what?”
“I’m sorry, Mack,” Jason said. “I really meant that. But I need to think about not just what’s best for you or me, but what’s best for TakeOff. You understand that, don’t you?”
26
Lift Every Voice
KATYA HAD NEVER seen her mentions column on TweetDeck scroll as fast as it did in the minutes after she published her story about Mack. First it was people just retweeting her story. Then comments like damn @katyapasterna
ck out here with the killer scoops about sleazy founders is and why am I surprised but not surprised that @mackmcallister is a total sleazebucket. Thanks @katyapasternack! But soon, she started to see other tweets from people whose avatars were the Twitter egg or a cartoon. Tweets like typical TechSleaze story by @katyapasternack that doesn’t even consider that @mackmcallister’s accuser is a lying slut. FALSE ACCUSATIONS DESTROY LIVES #justice4mack. She pinged Dan. Katya: The Twitter eggs are starting to come out against me
Dan: block block block
Katya: yeah I know :/ just wish it didn’t have to be this way. do you think they actually believe what they’re saying, or they just do it to see what kind of reaction they’re gonna get? bc some of the stuff they’re saying is really crazy
Dan: welcome to the cesspool we like to call “Twitter”
Katya: thanks. I’ve been here before, it’s always a pleasure.
Katya: jk. duh.
Dan: smoke?
Katya: yeah sure
Dan: actually…i’ll come by your desk in a sec
Ever since the other night, when she told him she couldn’t meet up, he hadn’t asked her to hang out after work again, and she was hoping they had reached a cautious equilibrium, one that tacitly acknowledged that something had happened between them but that there was really no need, at all, to talk about it or think about it or reference it ever again, and they could just go back to being normal, or at least normal-ish.
She was still looking at her TweetDeck when she felt a presence behind her. She turned around. It was Dan. He had his hand behind his back. “Hey,” she said. “Are we going to smoke?”
He took his hand out from behind his back and produced a small bouquet of daisies. “Ta-da!” he said. “I just got you these because, well, you’re kicking ass.”
So much for cautious equilibrium. Against her will, Katya felt herself blushing. Victor had gotten her flowers once, and she had laughed and told him that she wasn’t really the type for flowers and he should save his money, and he had gotten offended and pouted a little bit, so finally she’d found a pint glass from Social Media Week—it must have been Janelle’s—in the kitchen cabinet and put them in water in there, and then by the time she remembered to check on them, they were dead. But she meant it—what did she need with flowers? They were just a reminder of mortality, the way that they were vibrant and beautiful one day and withered and dry the next, not to mention a waste of money.
She couldn’t say that to Dan. Even after everything, he was her boss. And he meant well. So she smiled and said, “Wow, thank you, that’s very nice, I guess I should find something to put them in, right?”
“They’re just from the bodega down the block,” he said, a little too quickly. “I think there might be a vase in the kitchen—I’ll get it.”
“Well, thanks,” she said. Dan nodded, smiled, and walked toward the kitchen.
“Flowers, huh?” She now realized Kevin had watched their entire exchange and was smirking.
“Yeah,” she said. “For the Mack story.”
“Mm-hmm.” Kevin grinned. “Dan Blum has never gotten anyone else in this newsroom flowers. Lit-er-ally never. Even when Christina broke that story about Uber.” Christina’s Uber story had been one of the biggest scoops of the year; she had even gone on CNN to talk about it.
“Well, he really wanted me to do this story.” Not that it’s any of your business, she added silently. She started typing an email, hoping Kevin would take the hint and stop talking to her.
He didn’t. “How did you get the story, anyway?”
“You know I can’t tell you my sources,” Katya said.
“Whoa-whoa-whooooooa,” Kevin said, throwing up his hands in mock surrender. “No one’s asking you for your sources. Chill.”
Katya rolled her eyes. “Chill,” she mimicked. “Do you know how much I hate that word? It’s just so…ugh.” She shook her head.
“Damn, you have been cranky lately,” he said. “It’s really not that bad, you know.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, whatever you say,” she said. “Actually, I’m really busy. Do you mind?” She gestured to her computer.
“Yeah, you know what, so am I,” Kevin said as Dan returned from the kitchen with a mason jar filled with water.
“Thanks,” Katya said. She put the flowers in the jar.
“Still want that smoke?” Dan said. Katya nodded. She did want a smoke, even if she now felt a little awkward having it with Dan.
“Gimme a sec—I’ll meet you downstairs,” she said. At least she’d be able to avoid having people see them walk out together. When she got outside, he had already lit a cigarette. “So? How you feeling?” he said. He squeezed her shoulders. “You just fucking killed it. We were just ready to go with that story. Deanna and Rich have both told me how great you did.”
“Yeah, they emailed me too,” she said. She lit a cigarette and took a long drag, and allowed herself a small smile. “The whole thing feels pretty good.”
“It’s amazing,” Dan said. “Really, really amazing.” They were silent for a moment. “What’s the day-two story here?”
“Hmm,” Katya said. “Not totally sure yet. I feel like I need to see how things sort of shake out, you know?”
“Yeah,” Dan said. “But let’s not wait too long. There are going to be other outlets on this, and we don’t want to let the story get away from us.”
“Right, right,” Katya said. “I was also thinking, maybe it’d be a good time to pick up the invisibletechman story. Feels like the moment is right for it, you know?”
Dan nodded. “Yeah.” He took a long drag of his cigarette. “Listen…before you do, there’s something I should tell you.”
“Okay,” Katya said. “I’m listening.”
“Actually…I’ll just show you.” He took out his phone and swiped and tapped on it a few times and finally turned to show her. It was the @invisibletechman account in the Twitter app.
“What about it?”
Dan looked at her meaningfully. “Watch,” he said. He held the phone so she could see as he clicked on the little feather icon in the app. The “What’s Happening?” screen, with @invisibletechman’s avatar in the corner, popped up. Then he typed: Can’t believe the news about @mackmcallister…oh wait, yes I can. He added and hit the bright blue tweet button. “Voilà.”
It took Katya a moment to process what she had just seen. Dan…Blum…was @invisibletechman? No. No no no no no. It made no sense. It not only made no sense, but it was wrong on every level. Completely wrong. This could not be real. “Wait. What? You’ve been running invisibletechman? But…what? You’re not even—”
“Black?” Dan said. “I know.” Now he was smiling in a way that was way, way too self-satisfied. “I just figured it would seem more authentic if people assumed that the owner of the account was black. I never actually said I was black. I might have implied it, but go back through my tweets—I never actually said it.”
“Oh, come on, that’s bullshit and you know it,” Katya said. “And that’s so fucked up. Why would you even do that? Like…to what end? It doesn’t make sense. Just to, like, cause trouble?”
“I was commenting on the insularity and myopia in so much of the tech industry,” Dan said. “A place rife with sexism, racism, and probably every other ism in existence. It felt like this was the most effective way to do it. I could give people in this industry a voice, someone people typically don’t hear from. Don’t you think I succeeded? Like, now people are talking about this stuff! They weren’t before.”
“You’re an asshole,” Katya said. “I didn’t say you could speak for me or for, like, Trevor or anyone else in this industry who’s not a white man like you. God,” she practically spat. “It is so fucking typical that a fucking forty-year-old white dude would be the one running this account. What a fucking joke.”
“Okay, first of all, I’m thirty-nine, and—”
“You’re a fraud.”
“Jesus, Katya,
I thought you’d be excited that the mystery had finally been solved! You’re blowing this way out of proportion.”
“Solved? You fucking told me. How was I supposed to solve it?” It was true, she was upset, but she had every right to be pissed. Suddenly, something else dawned on her. “Wait a second. Wait a second. That’s how he—you—tweeted out the recording of Isabel! Because I had sent it to you. Sent it to you, not to your dumb parody Twitter account. How could you even do that to me? I could have lost the whole story.”
“It’s actually not a parody,” Dan said. “More like a satire.”
“Whatever the fuck it is,” Katya said. Dan had never seen her get really mad, she realized. Well, now he was going to. “Don’t mansplain your fake Twitter account to me, okay?”
“Whatever, Katya,” he said. “You probably wouldn’t have even published your story if I hadn’t tweeted out that recording. That blew this whole thing wide open. I was really hoping you’d pick up on my hints that we really wanted the story, but you were just moving so slowly. I needed to get things going. You’d been, like, sitting on your ass about it for weeks. Even after you knew how important these impactful stories were to us.”
“I had not been sitting on my ass!” Katya said. She was practically yelling now, and the people walking by them on the sidewalk were giving them looks. “You know I have not been sitting on my ass.”
Dan took one last drag of his cigarette and threw it to the ground. “You know what,” he said, “I think maybe just take the rest of the day off. Just…relax. We can pick your story back up again tomorrow.” She was silent. “I’m going to go back inside now.” He squeezed her shoulder. She flinched. “Hey, it’s fine, just take the rest of the day off, okay?” He patted her shoulder and went inside.
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