FAFO: The Hims Edition

AP Photo/Richard Vogel

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. 

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This is his original tweet:

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.


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. 



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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. 

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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. 

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. 

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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. 



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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 20, 2024
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