Tinder Drama Hits New Low – Was it a High Five or Something Else?
The ongoing saga of the multibillion-dollar trial investigating the question of whether Match and it’s controlling shareholder IAC/Interactive Corp duped Sean Rad out of billions by underestimating the worth of the dating app to the tune of 10 billion back in 2017 is still causing drama.
Match Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Greg Blatt was in the spotlight on Monday with accusations from Sean Rad of intimidation and physical bullying during a break in Blatt’s testimony.
Rad claims Blatt “came down and grabbed me very hard,” and that he “went a little blank but that was absolutely designed to intimidate me.”
Rad told New York state court Judge Joel Cohen what had happened whilst Rad’s lawyers claimed Blatt had “crossed a line” when he grabbed Rad’s arm, pulled him in towards him and asked “You been lifting?”.
Apparently, Blatt hasn’t seen Rad for a long time and claims the action was nothing more than a friendly fist bump. He told the judge in response to Rad’s complaints that Rad had put his hand out for a fist bump and he had simply responded to that in a natural fashion.
By Tuesday, Match was retaliating with a statement accusing Rad of smearing witnesses instead of telling truths.
The judge did not allow Rad’s lawyers to question Blatt about the “fist bump” but told Blatt to avoid further contact with plaintiffs and their lawyers.
This little morsel offers a pretty clear insight into the emotions surrounding the trial which has just gone into its third week. There’s a definite playground feeling to Rad’s complaints – a bit of “he pushed me first” going on.
Hardly surprising when we consider Rad’s reputation!
Rad has often fallen foul of public opinion due to his actions or sometimes, his inactions around Tinder and his colleagues there.
The former CEO was ‘let go’ following a shocking accusation from Whitney Wolfe Herd, then Tinder’s marketing executive.
Rad along with Justin Mateen was accused of gender-based discrimination after Wolfe Herd was stripped of her co-founder status following a breakup with Mateen and Tinder settled the case very swiftly out of court amid her revelations about the shocking treatment she’d received at the hands of Mateen whilst Rad had done nothing to support her.
After this debacle, Rad went on to publicly embarrass himself with outlandish statements in an interview where he claimed a certain supermodel was desperate to sleep with him. Of course we mustn’t forget to mention the fact that Rad was also caught out recording his employees at Tinder!
Added up together, all of these incidents seem to point to Rad as being someone who seems to regularly find himself in trouble or is it a case of him starting trouble?
The court case is set to continue and the findings are sure to be fascinating!