Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian resigns from board and calls for a black candidate to replace him


Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has resigned from the company's board and called for a black candidate to be chosen as his replacement.
Ohanian, the husband of Serena Williams who co-founded Reddit in 2005, announced his decision on Friday amid the nationwide protests and outrage over the killing of George Floyd.
"It is long overdue to do the right thing," he said. "I'm doing this for me, for my family, and for my country."
Subscribe to 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.
Ohanian said he has "urged" the company's board to pick a black candidate to fill his seat, and he's additionally pledged to use future gains on his Reddit stock "to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate," explaining that he's a father who "needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: 'What did you do?'" To start, he said he's donating $1 million to Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp.
This announcement, Axios notes, comes after former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao put the company on blast in response to CEO Steve Huffman's statement supporting Black Lives Matter, calling on him to ban the popular pro-Trump section /r/The_Donald.
"You should have shut down the_donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence," Pao tweeted. "So much of what is happening now lies at your feet. You don't get to say BLM when reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all day long."
Ohanian in his announcement expressed his support for those protesting, writing, "To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages