A member of Uber's corporate board reportedly apologized Tuesday for cracking a derogatory joke about women at a company meeting designed to address sexual harassment.
Billionaire businessman David Bonderman joked that adding female board members would make it "much more likely there'll be more talking" – and came as fellow member Arianna Huffington was explaining the benefits of having more women on the the board, The Washington Post reported.
In an email that was sent later to company employees, Bonderman said, "I want to apologize to my fellow board member for a disrespectful comment. It was inappropriate. . . . I deeply regret it."
Bonderman, a co-founder of a private equity firm, also apologized personally to Huffington.
"David has apologized to all Uber employees for a remark that was totally inappropriate and against the new culture we are building at Uber," Huffington said in a statement, the Post reported.
The incident occurred amid a leadership crisis at Uber; CEO Travis Kalanick went on a leave of absence, and senior vice president Emil Michael also exited the company, the Post reported.
According to the Post, Tuesday marked the release of recommendations from a report by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder on Uber's workplace culture; the full report is not being made public, the Post reported.
Among the proposals, Uber will adopt the equivalent of the NFL's "Rooney Rule" requiring that when the company is filling a key job, at least one woman and one minority candidate be interviewed before the hire can go forward.
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