Google's CEO Sundar Pichai Says He Does Not Regret Firing James Damore
Recent reports have revealed that Google's chief executive officer Sundar Pichai has responded to the issue of the firing of former engineer James Damore over a controversial memo that was released internally. Further reports have also revealed that Damore has chosen to take matters into court.
"I regret that people misunderstand that we may have made this for a political belief one way or another," Pichai said in a live conversation with Recode co-founder Kara Swisher, MSNBC host Ari Melber, and YouTube's chief executive offer Susan Wojcicki, as reported by The Verge. "It's important for the women at Google, and all the people at Google, that we want to make an inclusive environment. I don't regret it."
Damore made it to headlines a few months back when a 3,300-word memo was released internally but was leaked and went viral. In his memo, Damore detailed how Google's programs to support diversity was misplaced and that women were biologically less suited than men to be programmers and engineers. Damore also said that Google's efforts for inclusion have backfired in that the tech giant has instead created a hostile environment for conservatives. Wojcicki has expressed how she thought Pichai's decision was the right one and further expressed that the memo had personally hurt her.
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After he was relieved from his workstation due to the memo, Damore has since filed a lawsuit against the search engine giant, detailing how Google is effectively and apparently discriminating against white, conservative men. Google maintains that they look forward to defending the matter in court. Aside from the Damore's controversial memo, the live conversation also tackled topics like artificial intelligence, immigrants, extremism, and fake news.
For those who would like to see the entirety of the live conversation, MSNBC and Recode's "Revolution: Google and YouTube Changing the World" will be aired on Jan. 26, 7 p.m. PST on MSNBC.
