Harassment
#MeToo: ‘Father of Android’ Andy Rubin accused of sexual misconduct in NYT article, calls it ‘smear campaign’
The ‘Father of Android’, Andy Rubin was accused of sexual misconduct at Google in a New York Times article, titled, ‘How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the ‘Father of Android’’ published on Thursday.
In a tweet, he responded that the article contained ‘numerous inaccuracies’, ‘wild exaggerations’ and was a ‘smear campaign’ to disparage him.
2/2 to disparage me during a divorce and custody battle. Also, I am deeply troubled that anonymous Google executives are commenting about my personnel file and misrepresenting the facts.
— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) October 26, 2018
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The article states how Rubin had to resign from Google in 2014 after a complaint of sexual misconduct against him was found to be credible in a Google inquiry. The complaint was not made public, however, and was paid $90 million as an ‘exit package’ to be paid in installments of about $2 million a month for four years.
“The woman, with whom Mr. Rubin had been having an extramarital relationship, said he coerced her into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013, according to two company executives with knowledge of the episode. Google investigated and concluded her claim was credible, said the people, who spoke on the condition that they not be named, citing confidentiality agreements. Mr. Rubin was notified, they said, and Mr. Page asked for his resignation,” the NYT article states.
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Amid the ongoing storm in India of ‘#MeToo‘ hashtag allowing victims of sexual harassment to post about their incidents online, M J Akbar, Minister of State For External Affairs, has resigned from his post in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment made by several women against him. MJ Akbar said in a statement that he would “seek justice in a court of law” in a “personal capacity”.
Akbar said, “Since I have decided to seek justice in a court of law in my personal capacity, I deem it appropriate to step down from office and challenge false accusations levied against me, also in a personal capacity.”
In response to the scores of allegations of sexual harassment, especially at workplaces, the government of India constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) for developing frameworks to deal with sexual harassment at workplaces after the latest development in the #MeToo movement which oversaw MJ Akbar forcefully stepping down as the Union Minister of India following several sexual misconduct allegations.
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The GoM will be headed by Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh and will include Defence minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman, Road and Transport minister of India Nitin Gadkari and Union Minister for Women and Child Development of India Maneka Gandhi.