American athlete Joe Kinder has been a member of Black Diamond's team for several years. However, two days ago, Black Diamond announced that the collaboration with Joe was over immediately. The reason for the breakup is a social media account on which Joe Kinder has been publishing memes for a long time, insulting or discrediting other climbers, including female athletes.
A few days ago, Sasha DiGiulian publicly complained about a social media post from Black Diamond athlete Joe Kinder. On an impersonal meme account (@jetskijoyrider -> no longer online) Joe Kinder has been posting discrediting and insulting posts for a long time. The content is not known to us in detail. Apparently, not only Sasha DiGiulian is affected by abusive posts, but also her colleague Courtney Sanders.
Repeated offensive content spread
As various sources state, Joe's children repeatedly published insulting content in the meme account. As an example, Sasha DiGiulian gives the following picture of Joe making fun of the relationship between Sasha and Edu Marin and overcoming the cask.
"I am hurt and broken hearted to say that I am a victim of a bully and it has crossed the line. I have received many messages about the ridicule that someone has made about me and my career. I have tried reaching out maturely, with no response. I find it incredibly sad that he has chosen this road. Perhaps because I am an independent female who has made a career out of my chosen path that irritates him? ”In response to Sasha DiGiulian's public contribution, Joe Kinder published a long explanation / apology and concluded with the following words:“ I apologize to anyone that was hurt by my tasteless acts, I'm learning from this. "
Sorry to no avail - Black Diamond terminates cooperation
Joe's apology might appease the community, but not his sponsors. One day after Sasha's publication, one of Joe Kinder's most important sponsors, Black Diamond, announced that the collaboration had ended immediately: “Black Diamond has a zero tolerance policy towards bullying of any kind. In the past 24 hours, we have unfortunately become aware that this line has been crossed by one of our athletes. It is with difficulty that we announce that Joe Kinder is no longer a member of our Black Diamond team. “That's tough tobacco for an athlete. We are curious to see how things will develop.
UPDATED: Between the time this article was written and today's publication date, we received another message. La Sportiva also immediately separated from Joe Kinder. Following the news that La Sportiva published on Tuesday:
very, very good… hopefully this will send a signal to others who are not too strict about respect.