NOT THE TIME

Tech CEO Apologizes for Quoting MLK While Laying Off Staff

Some critics online accused the tone-deaf email, which announced a 7 percent reduction to PagerDuty's global staff, of being AI-generated.

The chief executive of cloud computing company PagerDuty issued a terse apology to employees on Friday after sending a haphazard layoff email, in which she inserted an “inappropriate and insensitive” quote by Martin Luther King Jr. “I am reminded in moments like this, of something Martin Luther King said, that ‘the ultimate measure of a [leader] is not where [they] stand in the moments of comfort and convenience, but where [they] stand in times of challenge and controversy,’” Jennifer Tejada wrote in a lengthy email that buried the announcement of a 7 percent reduction in staff. The tone-deaf statement was promptly roasted on social media, with some critics deriding it as disingenuous and accusing it of being AI-generated. “There are a number of things I would do differently if I could,” Tejada wrote in her apology. “The quote I included from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was inappropriate and insensitive. I should have been more upfront about the layoffs in the email, more thoughtful about my tone, and more concise. I am sorry.”