In 2013, Greg Gopman, founder of “AngelHack,” became infamous for his long-winded Facebook rant against homeless people in San Francisco. The move was seen as an embodiment of the clash between tech workers and longtime San Francisco residents.
Since then he has sought redemption, and attempted to help the homeless in San Francisco to some mixed success. He also needs to put food on the table, and to that end Gopman started working for San Francisco-based tech company Twitter on Monday.
But just two days later, he said he was fired.
His new role at Twitter was noticed by publications like Variety and TechCrunch, the latter of which re-published his three year old rant on the homeless, which many have characterized as the epitome of the self-entitled tech worker stereotype.
“Andd I’m fired. Thanks TechCrunch,” Gopman wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday morning.
He replied to comments for further explanation, writing, “They wrote a smash piece on me last night and comms [sic] didn’t want to deal with it.”
Twitter declined to comment on the record.
In a brief conversation with the San Francisco Examiner, Gopman said, “It sucks. I didn’t do anything to cause this. I’m just taking a day off,” and declined further comment.
In 2015, Gopman held a town hall meeting in San Francisco to discuss solutions to aid the homeless, from turning Muni buses into roving showers, to digital donation services, to transitional villages.
He also worked with homeless people directly, on a number of ideas to “disrupt” homelessness.
Still, it seems at least this week, those efforts were overshadowed by his words from 2013.
In that infamous post, Gopman wrote, “Why the heart of our city has to be overrun by crazy, homeless, drug dealers, dropouts, and trash I have no clue.” He added, “Each time I pass it my love affair with SF dies a little.”
“The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities, the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it’s a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests. And that’s okay.”
He later apologized for that post on Facebook.
