AngelHack CEO's Attack On Homeless May Be Biggest Social Media Blunder Of 2013

CEO's Attack On Homeless May Be Biggest Social Media Blunder Of 2013
UNITED KINGDOM - JANUARY 25: Hand on an Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer keyboard (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)
UNITED KINGDOM - JANUARY 25: Hand on an Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer keyboard (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

In a move that does San Francisco’s tech community no favors, another successful startup CEO has taken to the Internet to air his grievances with the city’s flaws, this time with a tone-deaf attack on its homeless population.

Greg Gopman, CEO of hackathon organizer AngelHack, posted a controversial Facebook post Tuesday night that has since been removed.

"Just got back to SF. I've traveled around the world and I gotta say there is nothing more grotesque than walking down market st in San Francisco," he reportedly wrote." Why the heart of our city has to be overrun by crazy, homeless, drug dealers, dropouts, and trash I have no clue. Each time I pass it my love affair with SF dies a little."

Gopman went on to criticize the behavior of such "degenerates."

"The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities, the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it's a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests," he continued. "In downtown SF the degenerates gather like hyenas, spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy, they act like they own the center of the city... It a disgrace... You can preach compassion, equality, and be the biggest lover in the world, but there is an area of town for degenerates and an area of town for the working class."

That love affair might be a little one-sided. San Franciscans quickly called Gopman out on his comments.

I will never participate in another @Angelhack event. @Gopmania, this is absolutely vile. https://t.co/MDW8iEgYJY

— Chris (@christophernies) December 11, 2013

The following day, Gopman issued an apology on Facebook.

Last night, I made inappropriate comments about San Francisco and its less fortunate citizens on Market st. I'm really sorry for my comments. I trivialized the plight of those struggling to get by and I shouldn't have. I hope this thread can help start an open discussion on what changes we can make to fix these serious problems. Again, I am deeply sorry.

The apology went over about as smoothly as expected.

In another social media blunder out of AngelHack, an automated Twitter account programmed to tweet out everything mentioned about the company has been flooded with similarly disparaging tweets. The account was made private Wednesday afternoon.

Gopman must not have been paying attention to the fury unleashed on Celery founder Peter Shih, whose “10 Thing I Hate About You: San Francisco Edition” blog in August led to a citywide demand for his departure.

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