Facing another PR nightmare via some troubling off-hand remarks made by Uber executive Emil Michael, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick took to Twitter this morning to issue a 11 14-part statement. 14 parts of less than 140 characters, that is.
Mr. Michael decided to let a journalist in on his brilliant idea to investigate journalists critical of Uber and aggressively try to intimidate and/or smear them using private information, and for obvious reasons this story has now blown up. (The journalist in question: BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith, and the one Michael most wanted to smear was Pando Daily's Sarah Lacy.)
Now Kalanick is trying to play a quick game of cleanup.
1/ Emil's comments at the recent dinner party were terrible and do not represent the company.
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
2/ His remarks showed a lack of leadership, a lack of humanity, and a departure from our values and ideals
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
3/ His duties here at Uber do not involve communications strategy or plans and are not representative in any way of the company approach
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
4/ Instead, we should lead by inspiring our riders, our drivers and the public at large.
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
5/ We should tell the stories of progress and appeal to people’s hearts and minds
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
6/ We must be open and vulnerable enough to show people the positive principles that are the core of Uber’s culture
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
7/ We must tell the stories of progress Uber has brought to cities and show the our constituents that we are principled and mean well
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
8/ The burden is on us to show that, and until Emil’s comments we felt we were making positive steps along those lines
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
9/ But I will personally commit to our riders, partners and the public that we are up to the challenge
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
10/ We are up to the challenge to show that Uber is and will continue to be a positive member of the community
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
11/ And furthermore, I will do everything in my power towards the goal of earning that trust.
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
12/ I believe that folks who make mistakes can learn from them - myself included.
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
13/ and that also goes for Emil ..
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
13/ and last, I want to apologize to @sarahcuda
— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
Uber obviously has a lot at stake given that they're growing faster than any other company in Silicon Valley, and they're facing the ongoing PR nightmare of that hammer-wielding UberX driver. And, of course, people love to make fun of a swiftly growing company that could also have broad-reaching privacy implications going forward.
I know where you all live /15
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) November 18, 2014
But can we all just agree that a) It sounds like Emil Michael might get canned, and b) Twitter is one of the least efficient ways to issue a lengthy statement like this?
Update: And now we also have this...
Absolutely disgusting deleted tweet from Uber NY GM responding to his company's attack on Sarah: pic.twitter.com/IMCSFsgX6H
— Paul Carr (@paulcarr) November 18, 2014
