Gregory Cops / Facebook
Gregory Gopman
On October 18 news surfaced that Twitter had hired Gregory Gopman to help lead its VR initiatives as a project manager.
He was fired the next day.
"Anddd I'm fired," Gopman wrote on Facebook Wednesday. "Thanks TechCrunch."
His reason for citing TechCrunch was that the tech site surfaced a 2013 Facebook post he made in which he called homeless people in San Francisco "degenerates" and "a burden."
Gopman was roundly excoriated for the post when it was published in 2013, and he publicly apologized for "inappropriate comments" that "trivialized" the plight of homeless people.
Apparently Twitter was somehow unaware of all the drama until it was posted by TechCrunch alongside the news about him joining the company.
"They [TechCrunch] wrote a smash piece on me last night and [Twitter] comms didn't want to deal with it," Gopman, whose Facebook page uses the alias Gregory Gops, confirmed on Facebook on Wednesday.
A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on Gopman's departure. Gopman didn't respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.
Here's the Copman's post from 2013, which he has since deleted:
Just got back to SF. I've traveled around the world and I gotta say there is nothing more grotesque than walking down market st in San Francisco. Why the heart of our city has to be overrun by crazy, homeless, drug dealers, dropouts, and trash I have no clue. Each time I pass it my love affair with SF dies a little.
The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities, the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it's a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests. And that's okay.
In downtown SF the degenerates gather like hyenas, spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy, they act like they own the center of the city. Like it's their place of leisure… In actuality it's the business district for one of the wealthiest cities in the USA. It a disgrace. I don't even feel safe walking down the sidewalk without planning out my walking path.
You can preach compassion, equality, and be the biggest lover in the world, but there is an area of town for degenerates and an area of town for the working class. There is nothing positive gained from having them so close to us. It's a burden and a liability having them so close to us. Believe me, if they added the smallest iota of value I'd consider thinking different, but the crazy toothless lady who kicks everyone that gets too close to her cardboard box hasn't made anyone's life better in a while.