July 19, 2021: -Google has parted ways with its VP of developer relations for Google Cloud following a contentious all-hands meeting.
“I wanted to share that is Amr Awadallah’s final day at Google,” wrote Vice President of Engineering & Product for Google Cloud Eyal Manor in an email to staff on Thursday and CNBC viewed.
Vice President of Developer Relations for Google Cloud Amr Awadallah, joining the company in 2019, wrote a 10,000-word manifesto about his previous antisemitism on LinkedIn in June called “We Are One,” which relies primarily on personal anecdotes.
Awadallah, the famous in the cloud industry, also posted his manifesto on YouTube and Twitter in an attempt to decry antisemitism by recounting the way he became enlightened after he “hated all Jews.” In an attempt to denounce hate between the Israel-Palestinian conflict, he listed all the Jews he knew were good people. Employees said his public admission, which omitted major historic Jewish events, made it hard for public-facing developer advocates, tasked with being the face and bridge for Google developers both internally and externally.
Within the manifesto, Awadallah is describing how he was “cautious” of VMware co-founder Mendel Rosenblum based on his last name. After getting to know him and his spouse and other VMware co-founder (and former Google Cloud CEO) Diane Greene, he learned to appreciate them. They both invested in his company Cloudera.
The contention and departure after a month the manifesto come as Google faces questions about how it handles diversity among its leaders and the doubled-standard rank and file employees feel with leadership. Employees said they often faced reprimand for far less offensive social media posts.
“I hated the Jewish people. All the Jewish people,” Awadallah opens within his “Confession” in both texts and on a YouTube video. Awadallah criticized Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a now-deleted tweet because he was denied a paid promoted post.
According to employees, Awadallah had previously used his 23andMe results to justify his opinions. However, Awadallah acknowledged his prior prejudice in the apparent pursuit of “peace,” he uses anecdotes and private stories to make a point about why his current assertions are correct in his manifesto. One way he does this is to share his 23andMe results, showing he was 0.1% Ashkenazi Jewish, which he typed in boldface. That’s how he is technically Jewish, too.
“I admire many Jewish people as I shared earlier, but I will also tell you this with unwavering conviction: The Jewish people are not special any more than the Christian, Black, Hispanic, White, Muslim, Asian, Arab peoples or any other group of people for that matter,” his manifesto said.
When employees showed discomfort at the all-hands meeting on Wednesday, the executive doubled down on his manifesto and insisted employees misunderstood, they said.
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