Uber VP slammed after comments on digging up dirt on journalists

NEW YORK, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- An Uber executive is under fire for threatening to turn the tables on a journalist who wrote a critical column on the ride-sharing company by exposing details of her personal life.

Uber's senior vice president of business, Emil Michael, was overheard espousing the idea of conducting opposition research on journalists by a Buzzfeed editor while at a dinner in Manhattan.

Michael, who later said he believed he was off-the-record, suggested spending "a million dollars" to hire researchers to fight back against the press by looking into "your personal lives, your families."

His comments were apparently in response to a column written by PandoDaily's Sarah Lacy, slamming Uber for "sexism and mysogyny" after ad campaign promoted a deal in which customers in Lyon, France could request "hot chick" drivers.

Amid the storm of blowback that followed Buzzfeed's report, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick tweeted out a condemnation of his deputy's comments.

"His remarks showed a lack of leadership, a lack of humanity, and a departure from our values and ideals," Kalanick wrote. "His duties here at Uber do not involve communications strategy or plans and are not representative in any way of the company approach."

"Instead, we should lead by inspiring our riders, our drivers and the public at large. We should tell the stories of progress and appeal to people's hearts and minds. We must be open and vulnerable enough to show people the positive principles that are the core of Uber's culture. We must tell the stories of progress Uber has brought to cities and show the our constituents that we are principled and mean well. The burden is on us to show that, and until Emil's comments we felt we were making positive steps along those lines. But I will personally commit to our riders, partners and the public that we are up to the challenge. We are up to the challenge to show that Uber is and will continue to be a positive member of the community. And furthermore, I will do everything in my power towards the goal of earning that trust. I believe that folks who make mistakes can learn from them – myself included.

Michael issued his own apology, and tweeted an apology directly to Lacy.

"The remarks attributed to me at a private dinner -- borne out of frustration during an informal debate over what I feel is sensationalistic media coverage of the company I am proud to work for -- do not reflect my actual views and have no relation to the company's views or approach," he said Monday.

Lacy, meanwhile, called Michael's comments "horrifying" in a follow-up column on PandoDaily and accusing Kalanick of offering an empty apology.

"Lest you think this was just a rogue actor and not part of the company's game plan, let me remind you Kalanick telegraphed exactly this sort of thing when he sat on stage at the Code Conference last spring and said he was hiring political operatives whose job would be to "throw mud," she said. "I naively thought he just meant taxi companies. Let me also remind you: This is a company you trust with your personal safety every single time you use it. Let me also remind you: The executive in question has not been fired."

Uber has faced a series of scandals over drivers' behavior, as well as its cutthroat competitiveness.

@sarahcuda I would like to apologize to you directly. My comments were wrong and I deeply regret them.

— Emil Michael (@emilmichael) November 18, 2014