Tinder CEO Sean Rad's latest interview was a bit of a PR catastrophe. Speaking to the U.K.'s Evening Standard shortly before Tinder's parent company, Match Group, goes public Wednesday evening, Rad was far from tight-lipped about his personal life.
In addition to revealing the number of women he's slept with (a "modest 20") and talking extensively about his mother, Rad tells an extended braggy anecdote involving a model that ends up proving he may not be quite sure what the word "sodomy" actually means:
He's desperate to impress on me how gallant he is, citing the fact that a "supermodel, someone really, really famous" has been "begging" him for sex "and I've been like, no." She's "taunted" him, he says, and "called me a prude.""She's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen but it doesn't mean that I want to rip her clothes off and have sex with her. Attraction is nuanced. I've been attracted to women who are..." he pauses "...well, who my friends might think are ugly. I don't care if someone is a model. Really. It sounds clichéd and almost totally unbelievable for a guy to say this, but it's true. I need an intellectual challenge."He continues: "Apparently there's a term for someone who gets turned on by intellectual stuff. You know, just talking. What's the word?" His face creases with the effort of trying to remember. "I want to say 'sodomy'?"Rosette [Pambakian, Tinder's VP of communications and branding] shrieks: "That's it! We're going to be fired!" and Rad looks confused. "What? Why?"I tell him it means something else and he thumbs his phone for a definition. "What? No, not that. That's definitely not me. Oh, my God." [Evening Standard]
Read the full interview at the Evening Standard.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 ballsy cartoons about the new White House ballroomCartoons Artists take on the White House Disneyland, a menu for the elites, and more
-
‘Congratulations on your house, but maybe try a greyhound instead’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
How climate change poses a national security threatThe explainer A global problem causing more global problems
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
