The CEO of Hims, a telehealth and online pharmacy, is backtracking on a controversial tweet he published last week.
Andrew Dudum found out the hard way that is it best for CEOs, especially those of publicly traded companies, to keep their personal opinions to themselves. He tweeted that he is “eager” to hire pro-Hamas protesters. He is Palestinian-American with family in Gaza and the West Bank.
This is his original tweet:
Moral courage > College degree
If you’re currently protesting against the genocide of the Palestinian people & for your university’s divestment from Israel, keep going. It’s working.
There are plenty of companies & CEOs eager to hire you, regardless of university discipline.…
— andrewdudum (@AndrewDudum) May 1, 2024
Last November Dudum tweeted encouragement to “leaders” and CEOs to call for an immediate ceasefire. He pinned it to the top of his X page. It’s still there.
All leaders & CEOs should use their platform today to call for an immediate cease-fire.
I ask us to find nuance, and share our voice to help save innocent lives.https://t.co/GeOQSq9enS
— andrewdudum (@AndrewDudum) November 10, 2023
The predictable happened after his latest tweet. He said on Sunday that his comments were “misconstrued by some.” Really? He was clear in what he said. He used the word ‘genocide’ which is a word that Hamas propagandists use. The only genocide that goes on is at the hands of Hamas, like the massacres conducted by the internationally recognized terrorist group in Israel on October 7, 2023.
The last few days have been a disheartening reflection of just how divisive a time we live in. I’d like to clarify a few things because my words have been misconstrued by some.
— andrewdudum (@AndrewDudum) May 5, 2024
I, in no way condone nor support acts or threats of violence, antisemitism, or intimidation and there is absolutely no justification for violence on our campuses. Every student deserves to feel safe without fear of harm or being targeted for who they are. I am deeply saddened…
— andrewdudum (@AndrewDudum) May 5, 2024
I do believe deeply in the right for people to use their voices in peaceful protest to drive change. This right is critical to our democracy and must be protected. Our world today is more just because students throughout history have courageously taken to their campuses and used…
— andrewdudum (@AndrewDudum) May 5, 2024
As a father whose children are both the descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled the Nakba in 1948, and the descendants of Holocaust survivors from Poland, as I have previously shared, I have a personal appreciation for the different perspectives people have which I live with…
— andrewdudum (@AndrewDudum) May 5, 2024
What happened? His company’s stock slid by 8% by Friday.
Hims & Hers, which offers telehealth and online pharmacy services for erectile dysfunction, sexual performance, hair loss treatments, mental health and more, saw its stock slide by 8% Friday amid the controversy. Though it has rebounded by 0.89% in after-hours trading since Friday’s close. The drop came as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 450 points, or more than a full percentage point.
The company’s stock is up 16.8% year to date but down 4% from a year ago and has seen significant fluctuations in that period, posting single-day gains of about 11% in early November and 31% in late February on favorable earnings news. Its stock is up 14.9% since the company went public in September 2019.
Oh.
Dudum’s opinions aren’t so much political as they are anti-American. I say anti-American because the protesters chant “Death to America”, along with “Death to Israel.” They do so on American soil. It’s unacceptable. The protesters take down American flags and put up Palestinian flags. That, too, is unacceptable.
Dudum was criticized on social media.
Dudum’s post sparked backlash from other business figures, including Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, who replied, “Real moral courage doesn’t involve joining a mindless mob, chanting anti-US and other woke pablum, following instructions not to debate or discuss your positions at all yet being indignantly righteous, while large numbers in the mob chant for violence and block Jewish students.”
Conservative radio host Jason Rantz ripped Dudum’s post and told followers on X, “There are plenty of places to get what they sell that won’t require you to support a company that embraces antisemitism.”
A competitor offered one month free for orders placed by Hims customers.
Once again, if anyone has cancelled their $hims subscription due to their founder / CEO’s anti-Semitic remarks, your first month of @goodnight_mate’s sexual health solutions is on us. Our way of thanking you for standing on the right side of history https://t.co/RyW4M4RCJ6
— Jordan Elist (@jordanelist) May 3, 2024
Progressives just don’t learn. It was completely predictable that Him would get the Bud Light treatment. Dudum is free to hire anyone he so chooses. He chose to do some kind of terrorist-appeasing virtue-signaling by publicly encouraging the protesters, telling them the protests were working, and then providing a link to apply for employment with his company.
For whom are the protests working? Fundraising for The Squad and their fellow travelers in the Democrat Party? The protesters are being infiltrated by professional agitators who are causing violence. Student protesters don’t make foreign policy and they certainly don’t make war policy for Netanyahu. Netanyahu is going into Rafah to clean out Hamas, as he said he would do.
CEOs concerned about their company’s bottom line should learn to read the room. A minority of college students are conducting these protests. They deny Jewish students and professors access to campus. It’s graduation season. Parents are starting to get involved. This doesn’t end well for companies who support antisemitism and riots.