Mozilla CEO Steps Down After 11 Awful Days In The Job

Remember, readers: doing something stupid will always come back and bite you in the proverbial behind. Just ask the now ex-CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, who stepped down after 11 sucky days in the role after a barrage of hate.

The shitstorm surrounding Eich centred around the revelation that the new Mozilla CEO opposed same-sex marriage. Eich contributed $1000 to a campaign dedicated to passing Proposition 8 in California that would have seen the state repeal the right for same-sex couples to marry.

The revelation saw loads of Mozilla staffers quit, and even saw sites like OKCupid take a stand against the company’s browser product, Firefox.

After an 11 day storm over his views, Mozilla came out today on its blog and confirmed that Eich had stepped down as CEO.

Mozilla’s chairwoman authored a blog post apologising for the debacle:

Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves.

We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better.

Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this decision for Mozilla and our community.

Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.

Read more over here.


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