Senior Apple Exec Steps Down After Making Vulgar Joke in Viral TikTok Video
A senior executive at Apple has reportedly left the company after making a crude remark about women in a TikTok video that has since gone viral.
Apple has, according to Reuters, confirmed the departure of Tony Blevins, Vice President of Procurement, though it did not share a reason why. Mr Blevins is believed to have had an important role in the company's supply chain operations as he was involved in lining up suppliers for product components and securing the best prices for them.
The announcement of his departure comes after a TikTok video posted on 5 September went viral, where he's heard saying "I have rich cars, play golf and fondle big-breasted women, but I take weekends and major holidays off", in response to a question about what he does for a living.
The video was published by content creator Daniel Mac, who approached the executive while he was getting out of his Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a rare high-performance sports car that can cost upwards of US$500,000. Mr Mac is known for approaching people in expensive cars and asking them about their jobs. The video featuring Mr Blevin, which is believed to have been taken at a California car show sometime in August, has amassed more than 40,000 likes on Instagram and more than 142,000 likes on TikTok.
Bloomberg reports that the video caught the attention of some Apple employees, who then brought it up to the company's human resources department. Apple then probed the matter, which resulted in Mr Blevins' team of six direct reports and hundreds of employees being removed from under his management.
"I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to anyone who was offended by my mistaken attempt at humour," Mr Blevins told Bloomberg in a statement, with his remark in the video supposedly a reference to the 1981 film Arthur, in which the titular character says a similar line.
Mr Blevins has been with Apple for 22 years, reporting directly to COO Jeff Williams before stepping down.
Tony Blevins, Vice President of Procurement at Apple, has left the company after making a crude remark about women in a TikTok video that has since gone viral.
The video reportedly caught the attention of some of the Cupertino tech giant's employees, who then brought it to the human resources department.
Apple probed the matter, which resulted in hundreds of employees being removed from under Mr Blevins' management.
He has since apologised for the remark.