Swipe left…hot mobile dating app Tinder is caught up in a sexual harassment lawsuit

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Another day, another trendy start up founder is being sued for sexual harassment. This time it’s mobile dating app Tinder that has found itself in ‘girl power’s’ cross hairs. The accused, CMO Justin Mateen, has been suspended by Tinder which he co-founded, after being sued for sexual harassment and sexual discrimination by its former VP of marketing Whitney Wolfe.

The irony is definitely not lost with this lawsuit, that a dating app that helps horny singles hook up, is now in the middle of a sexual harassment scandal.

Business Insider reports:

Former Tinder marketing Vice President Whitney Wolfe sued the dating app on Monday claiming sexual harassment and discrimination, making Tinder the latest technology company to face legal trouble over its treatment of women.

Wolfe’s lawsuit said she was publicly labeled a “whore” in front of Chief Executive Officer Sean Rad and was stripped of her co-founder title.

Wolfe is asking for compensatory damages, including lost pay, punitive damages and restitution. The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court of the State of California, Los Angeles.

Techcrunch followed up on the filing with claims that…

[Tinder CEO] Rad ignored Wolfe’s complaints and fired her after she offered to resign “in consideration for modest severance and the vesting of her stock.”

The suit paints Wolfe as a driving force behind the team’s decision to move on from its previous Cardify product and work on the Tinder app instead. Even so, it claims that her title as co-founder was removed by Rad and Mateen, because she was a 24 year-old “girl” with little experience.

The suit also describes the romantic relationship that Mateen pursued with Wolfe, despite the fact that he was her direct supervisor. When things went sour between them, issues within the organization became even more difficult. After a breakup in December of last year, the suit claims, Mateen told Wolfe to stay away from other men for a period of six months.

Tinder may question some of the claims made in the complaint, but it can’t really dismiss the inappropriateness of the texts from Mateen that are included as evidence in the lawsuit.

After reading over the exhibits filed for the lawsuit (http://www.rezlaw.com/News-Events/06-30-14_Complaint_with_Exhibits-1.pdf) we can only come up with one initial reaction…dude what were you thinking!

I am not a legal expert and not sure about the in’s and out’s of this specific case…but in fairness, this Justin guy was harassing her with childish messages. The man (if we can call him that) was saying all this dumb stuff to his subordinate via text message…DUHHHH!

While we hate to see male start up founders, CEOs and executive unfairly targeted by the feminist lobby, in this case, after reading the suit and going over the evidence, this Tinder CMO made a dumb, I mean monumentally dumb, move.

You are the co-founder of one of the hottest apps in the world, living in LA and you get oneitis with someone you work with…your employee at that. Oh…and this hot app that you founded is a dating, hook up, get you laid app that you control. This man needs the red pill bad.

It’s a shame that many of these computer geeks are such super beta blue pill guys who stumble into quasi-fame and lots of cash flow, only to fall for the office hottie without realising the dangers ahead. Many of these start up founders are not equipped to handle women, period. They, for the most part, lack basic relationship and social skills, and when fame hits they fuck up by not knowing how to control their ~~penal urges~~ desire to be wanted by the very women who never paid attention to them when they were nobodies, coding away in their tidy whities on a Saturday night.

Red pill golden rule…never shit where you eat.

In closing Tinder has responded to the lawsuit with this statement:

Immediately upon receipt of the allegations contained in Ms. Wolfe’s complaint, Mr. Mateen was suspended pending an ongoing internal investigation. 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.

Here are some screenshots of the text messages exchanged: