Remember that CEO with a $70,000 minimum wage? He's an abuser.

[Firiel]

OMG, I've been sitting on this because I didn't want to be the first person to connect the pieces in a public forum, but I saw it in the media, so now I feel okay discussing it.  Dan Price, the CEO who raised the minimum wage of $70,000, is a tool.  I knew he had treated his ex-wife poorly (we have multiple connections), but I never knew he was abusive, especially this abusive.  I'm happy she's gotten out of the marriage, and I'm thrilled to see someone writing about this.  I've been reading all those articles with never-ending praise about him with some real frustration.

The guy is such a tool.  He was raised as a conservative Christian.  I'm sure he would consider himself progressive/liberal now, but it goes to show you that "progressives" can still hold to damaging patriarchal ideas and can still have the male entitlement issues we always attribute to fundamentalists.

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-gravity-ceo-dan-price/

Price’s life may get more complicated the week of Dec. 7, when TEDx plans to post online a public talk by his former wife, who changed her last name to Colón. She spoke on Oct. 28 at the University of Kentucky about the power of writing to overcome trauma. Colón stood on stage wearing cerulean blue and, without naming Price, read from a journal entry she says she wrote in May 2006 about her then-husband. “He got mad at me for ignoring him and grabbed me and shook me again,” she read. “He also threw me to the ground and got on top of me. He started punching me in the stomach and slapped me across the face. I was shaking so bad.” Later in the talk, Colón recalled once locking herself in her car, “afraid he was going to body-slam me into the ground again or waterboard me in our upstairs bathroom like he had done before.”

I read those quotes to Price. “I’m just going to take a second because this is very surprising to me,” he said. He paused. “I appreciate and respect my former wife, and she played a very positive role in my life,” he said. “Out of respect for her, I wouldn’t feel comfortable responding to a supposed allegation she may have said coming from a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter when I have absolutely zero evidence of an allegation being made.” I told him that I wanted to be clear: I was giving him the chance to deny the claims. “My comment is very responsive,” he said. “I would be more than happy to provide a comment if and when I actually get the benefit of seeing what you are referencing.”

About three hours later, Price called back. “There’s one more thing that I would like to add to my previous statement,” he said. “The events that you described never happened.”

 

[livinginthelight]

Is there any outside evidence validating her charges? Not downplaying the seriousness of them, but as a therapist, I have seen innocent clients smeared by their exes. I have also seen guilty people be exonerated. I'm not taking a stand. I'm just not willing to rush to judgment.

[Jingerbread]

Is there any outside evidence validating her charges? Not downplaying the seriousness of them, but as a therapist, I have seen innocent clients smeared by their exes. I have also seen guilty people be exonerated. I'm not taking a stand. I'm just not willing to rush to judgment.

We share a brain on this.  So far all the evidence is her reading what she claims is a diary entry from that time.  He sounded surprised when asked about it, and the article's trying to make it sound like him calling later to say it's not true is some big thing against him, when it sounds to me like he left the interview to look into things and find out what was going on, then called back to address it once he knew what was happening.

I'd like more information before declaring him to be an abuser.  If he was as violent as she says, seems like a friend of hers or someone should be able to corroborate, even if it's to say she'd disappear for weeks at a time when bruises could be healing, or her behavior was off at times.  It's also possible there weren't bruises, or she doesn't have many closeby friends.  So I need more information.

[Firiel]

To be fair, she wasn't "making charges."  She was giving a TED talk about the power of writing in overcoming trauma, and she didn't mention him by name (not only that, but she doesn't go by either her married name or her maiden name which is linked to him in several articles).  I fully believe people should be able to share their experiences even without hard evidence.

That being said, I don't know if there is outside evidence.  I don't think she ever filed charges, and from the writing she's done, it seems like it's taken her a while to come to terms with the abuse.  This is the first time she's publicly discussed the darkest side of her marriage.  But I don't have any trouble believing her.  I know that people who lie about business matters are not necessarily abusers, but it sure makes the accusation hold more water when it's leveled against someone who is untrustworthy.  Plus, he's kind of known to be an arrogant tool just in general, among people who know him.

[Firiel]

Although I will say that perhaps I should have used the phrase "alleged abuser."  I just didn't think to because I have absolutely no doubt that she's telling the truth.

[acheronbeach]

Is there any outside evidence validating her charges? Not downplaying the seriousness of them, but as a therapist, I have seen innocent clients smeared by their exes. I have also seen guilty people be exonerated. I'm not taking a stand. I'm just not willing to rush to judgment.

How as a therapist could you possibly  KNOW a client is innocent and being smeared? 

[livinginthelight]

How as a therapist could you possibly  KNOW a client is innocent and being smeared?

I don't automatically believe everything someone says the first time they come in. But there are instances, for example, where I have known both parties, and I know that one of them has a pattern of, say, being impulsive and lying and being very dramatic in order to manipulate. And maybe that person accuses their now-ex of abusing their child. And even the psychologist who subsequently evaluates the child while determining custody says the accuser is irrational and unstable.

In our own family, my sister-in-law (who looked very good on the surface but who was alcoholic and very emotionally unstable) accused my brother of forcing her to sexually entertain his friends. Does this type of thing ever happen in families? Yes. Are some families in denial about it? Yes. But there is no way, shape, or form my brother ever did this. Which she admitted two marriages later.

@acheronbeach - why the downvote on my previous post? Was I disrespectful in some way?

As a final point of clarification, I don't think there always IS external corroborating evidence in an abuse situation. So the lack of it doesn't mean the accused is innocent. I just was cautioning not to rush to fast judgment.

Although I will say that perhaps I should have used the phrase "alleged abuser."  I just didn't think to because I have absolutely no doubt that she's telling the truth.

If the title of this thread had said "alleged abuser" rather than "abuser", I might not have even felt the need to comment. I did feel it was worded too strongly. Thanks for your additional comment. And it does sound as if you may have some inside information.

[acheronbeach]

No.  I don't have inside information.   I simply loathe the idea that because you're told something convincingly, or you've had bad experiences with another person, you're   qualified to say one's a liar and one tells the truth.  And it's even more concerning to me that you tie this to being a mental health professional. 

We never know what actually happened without being a witness of some sort.  I'm reminded of a case my friend prosecuted many years ago.  The victim had a broken arm.  She said her husband had done it.  A second witness said she heard screaming from the house moments earlier. Husband was incoherent drunk when cops came.   Later,  a surveillance video showed her throwing herself onto a rock on patio, alone, and calling 911 - no husband in sight. 

[VelociRapture]

No.  I don't have inside information.   I simply loathe the idea that because you're told something convincingly, or you've had bad experiences with another person, you're   qualified to say one's a liar and one tells the truth.  And it's even more concerning to me that you tie this to being a mental health professional. 

We never know what actually happened without being a witness of some sort.  I'm reminded of a case my friend prosecuted many years ago.  The victim had a broken arm.  She said her husband had done it.  A second witness said she heard screaming from the house moments earlier. Husband was incoherent drunk when cops came.   Later,  a surveillance video showed her throwing herself onto a rock on patio, alone, and calling 911 - no husband in sight. 

. . . You do realize that she was speaking to @Firiel when she said "And it does sound as if you may have some inside information," right? Her response stating that was right underneath one of Firiel's responses. It sounds as if Firiel knows one or both of them and may know more than the average poster here would for that reason.

And @livinginthelight didn't claim that this man is innocent. She simply cautioned people not to rush to judgement - big difference.

Finally, she used her mental health experiences to illustrate that sometimes the accuser does lie. She said nothing about that being the case here, only that so little is currently known publicly that we can't exactly rule that possibility out entirely. I'm inclined to believe the ex-wife in this instance, but I usually give the accuser the benefit of the doubt at first and adjust my views as more evidence comes to light.

[Firiel]

 

If the title of this thread had said "alleged abuser" rather than "abuser", I might not have even felt the need to comment. I did feel it was worded too strongly. Thanks for your additional comment. And it does sound as if you may have some inside information.

I don't want to sound like I know anything more than I do.  I share a social network (real-life, not just social network in the online sense!  ) with both of them.  Based on her blog and the murmuring/gossip/discussions I've heard since their divorce, I had the impression that he treated her poorly and was neglectful.  I suspected (gut-feeling, mostly) that he was emotionally abusive.  So that's why this doesn't really surprise me and why I'm so ready to believe her.  I didn't expect this, though.  I'm really looking forward to listening to her TED talk.  

[Mama Mia]

I'm disappointed that this guy who seemed to have such a good grasp on how much $$$$ it takes to Actually live and thrive in the U.S., and actually tried to make that happen, would be a hideous monster in his personal life. 

I dont want to cast doubt on this woman, but, to me, those descriptions of the abuse just ring.....off. It's hard to place exactly how, but for one thing, if someone is on top of you and slapping your face -- it just doesn't seem physically likely they could also be punching you in the stomach. That kind of thing.  And, generally, if a grown man has been punching you repeatedly in the stomach, that's going to be higher on your fear list than being thrown on the ground - so you'd describe being scared to get out of the car because of that. I am probably completely wrong , it just sounded, to me, more like how someone describes how they think a physical attack would feel, than someone who has actually been attacked. Of course I didn't even watch the talk, and tone and context mean so much.

[Firiel]

I'm disappointed that this guy who seemed to have such a good grasp on how much $$$$ it takes to Actually live and thrive in the U.S., and actually tried to make that happen, would be a hideous monster in his personal life. 

I dont want to cast doubt on this woman, but, to me, those descriptions of the abuse just ring.....off. It's hard to place exactly how, but for one thing, if someone is on top of you and slapping your face -- it just doesn't seem physically likely they could also be punching you in the stomach. That kind of thing.  And, generally, if a grown man has been punching you repeatedly in the stomach, that's going to be higher on your fear list than being thrown on the ground - so you'd describe being scared to get out of the car because of that. I am probably completely wrong , it just sounded, to me, more like how someone describes how they think a physical attack would feel, than someone who has actually been attacked. Of course I didn't even watch the talk, and tone and context mean so much.

The talk won't be up online until December 7.  The reporter from the story saw the talk in person when it happened a month or so ago.  I'm really looking forward to listening to it.  She's had an interesting life and overcome some very hard things (even outside of her [allegedly] abusive marriage), so I'm really interested in what she has to say about writing as a way to find your voice and overcome trauma.

Dan Price is a tool, regardless.  Based on the article, he's obviously hiding something about his brother's lawsuit as he claims to not remember being served the papers before his wage increase when court records clearly show that he was served those papers and responded before increasing wages.

EDIT: And, if my personal biases aren't obvious enough, I'll note that I've been reading the leghumping of him via social media with some frustration for a long time. I assumed there was more to the story about his brother suing him than he mentioned (Dan said he thought it was because he raised wages), and I had a hard time seeing endless praise for an individual (I'm all for what he pretends to stand for!) that I understood to be kind of unsavory and slimy.  So I'm glad that all this information (abuse allegations and questionable motives) have come to light, if nothing else because you can't investigate claims that haven't been made.

[Mama Mia]

Yea, there are few things more exasperating than someone who you KNOW is an immoral tool being praised far and wide!