Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. And it’s frightening how some people completely forget about the golden rule—treating others like they would like to be treated themselves. If you threaten someone’s livelihood and family, don’t be surprised if you quickly have to deal with some immense consequences. Like suddenly having to go on a job search.
Well-known American entrepreneur William LeGate, the CEO and co-founder of the bedding company Pillow Fight, recently went viral on Twitter after sharing how he dealt with a “crazed Karen.” The incredibly rude woman had wanted to ruin his life by speaking to his boss who, ironically, was himself. Read on for the full story.
Bored Panda reached out to LeGate via Twitter, and he was kind enough to share his thoughts on what happened. "It appears she wanted to get me fired for my political beliefs," he said. You'll find our full interview with LeGate below.
Entrepreneur William LeGate took to Twitter to share how he stood his ground against a "crazed Karen"
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The woman started threatening him and hoped to get him fired
Image credits: williamlegate
Image credits: williamlegate
Image credits: williamlegate
However, she wasn't aware that LeGate was his own boss
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Image credits: williamlegate
Image credits: williamlegate
Image credits: williamlegate
After receiving a lot of vile messages, the CEO asked Twitter whether he should let the woman's employer know about her behavior
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Image credits: williamlegate
LeGate has to deal with messages like this "extremely frequently"
"Unfortunately for her, she didn't do her research to know that I'm the founder and CEO of the company that she tried to get me fired from and that we were founded as a 'for purpose' company—on this same set of progressive beliefs," LeGate told Bored Panda via Twitter.
"I’d certainly say she regrets it, given she lost both her Twitter account and her job as a result of her abhorrent behavior," he said.
We were interested in whether LeGate has to deal with such aggressive and rude messages commonly. Unfortunately, he told Bored Panda that this happens "extremely frequently—as in many, many times a day."
"Most of these people are coming at me with anger that is, at its core, rooted in jealousy and/or ignorance. I’ve learned to not take their messages personally and to instead view them as reflections of their own personal grievances," he explained that he doesn't take them to heart.
Meanwhile, Bored Panda wanted to know what helps LeGate stay motivated and resilient. "Hearing from people who’ve been positively impacted by my company’s products—or even just my quips on Twitter—means 1000x more to me than any hate message," he noted that the good definitely outweighs the bad.
"The constant desire to increase my net positive impact on society keeps me going, and the occasional hate you’ll get on the way is only indicative of your broadening reach. An FBI agent once told me, 'If you haven’t received at least a few death threats, you’re probably not doing anything too meaningful with your life.'"
The aggressive 'Karen' soon learned that her actions have consequences
It boggles our mind how aggressive some people can be to complete strangers. Take the ‘Karen’ from LeGate’s story, for example. In the screenshots of her messages, she’s behaving in a deranged manner, acting incredibly entitled, and threatening to ruin the man’s career.
However, LeGate noted that the screenshots he shared publicly to shame the bully weren’t even the “worst of the vile things she said.” Instead of ignoring her, the CEO of Pillow Fight decided to put his foot down and fight back.
He polled his followers on whether he should contact the woman’s employer with evidence of her awful behavior. The vast majority voted that he should, and he listened to the people. He pulled a ‘Reverse Uno’ and, instead of the one getting fired, he made sure she lost her job. Her losing her Twitter account was just the cherry on top.
In short, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Or, in other words, don’t randomly threaten someone just because you might not agree with their politics or values. It might sound simple enough, but don’t forget that common sense really isn’t all that common.
At the time of writing, LeGate’s thread was viewed nearly half a million times. It’s unsettling that there are people out there like the “crazed Karen” who will attack you, unprovoked. Some folks think that they’re immune from real-life consequences because they’re sitting behind a screen and are ‘anonymous.’ As it turns out, threatening an influential entrepreneur, computer programmer, and activist might not have been the brightest idea.
One of the things that LeGate aims to do is fight misinformation
LeGate taught himself to program at the age of 12. Three years later, The New York Times recommended one of the iOS applications that he’d programmed at middle school. When he graduated, billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel awarded him with a Thiel Fellowship and a $100,000 grant. LeGate now had the freedom to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams.
In 2021, LeGate and anti-gun violence activist David Hogg started GoodPillow to compete with MyPillow, whose CEO used “his considerable profits to push dangerous conspiracy theories.” So they started a ‘pillow fight’ with him. In May 2022, Pillow Fight and GoodPillow merged into one company.
The CEO’s company, Pillow Fight, supports a wide range of progressive causes. “While consistently donating to CommonCause.Org and RightWingWatch.org in order to combat voting misinformation and promote voting equality, we also have shifted portions of those proceeds to donate to critical causes such as the Ukraine humanitarian crisis, abortion rights in the wake of Roe v. Wade decision, and gun control in the wake of basically every week in America now,” the company explains its mission.
The CEO of Pillow Fight shared a bit more context about what happened in the comments
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Image credits: williamlegate
Image credits: williamlegate
Image credits: williamlegate
Here's how some other Twitter users reacted to the story
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