Former Reddit CEO Says Ellen Pao Served As A Scapegoat
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Reddit's former CEO shared his stinging stance on what caused the website's moderators to revolt and eventually push out interim CEO Ellen Pao.
In a Reddit post Sunday, former CEO Yishan Wong accused Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian for letting Ellen Pao take the blame for the firing of a popular employee two weeks earlier.
Moderators of the San Francisco-based sharing network shut down more than 250 subreddit boards in response. It also fueled an online petition to remove Pao stating "she will run Reddit into the ground" among other things. Pao officially stepped down from her position on Friday.
But Wong claims Ohanian was the one who ordered Pao to fire Victoria Taylor, the employee who managed the"Ask Me Anything" interviews.
"In this case it shouldn't have traveled upstream to her, it came from above her," he wrote. "Then when the hate-train started up against Pao, Alexis should have been out front and center saying very clearly 'Ellen Pao did not make this decision, I did.' Instead, he just sat back and let her take the heat. That's a stunning lack of leadership and an incredibly sh***y thing to do."
Reddit moderators also alleged Pao failed to provide adequate tools to run the popular website smoothly.
She will be replaced by Reddit's co-founder and previous CEO Steve Huffman. She told Re/code her departure was a "mutual decision" with Reddit's board.
Pao was also at the center of a gender bias lawsuit, with a San Francisco jury ruling in March that venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers did not discriminate or retaliate against Pao, who claimed she was fired when she complained about discrimination.
She was appointed interim CEO of Reddit shortly after losing the lawsuit, which she is appealing.