Boss’s shockingly sexist email response to female employee’s request for a day off sparks outrage
A SHOCKINGLY sexist reply-all email sent by the boss of a Hollywood talent agency has gone viral after being posted on Facebook by the woman he insulted.
Rosette Laursen, who has since quit the agency, asked for a day off to take part in “A Day Without A Woman”, an International Women’s Day event to demonstrate women's value to the workplace.
The reply, which was meant for two male co-workers only but accidentally went to the entire team, read: “Are you f***ing kidding me. At the end of pilot season.
"Someone should sew her vagina shut. I’m never hiring a girl ever again.
“No bonus for anyone that strikes or leaves early in pilot season. No one is striking in show business we are all against Trump.
"And women are considered diverse and being shoved in as writer and directors. Zach, who is a Jewish male, is being pushed out.
“Uppity Selfish C***. Heather went to work. I’m sure anyone at a casting office or agency would be fired.”
Ms Laursen, an assistant at the agency, then received the following apology: “I apologise for venting like a misogynistic fa***t. I was letting off steam I didn’t mean to hit reply all.
It added: "I'm an a**hole. If you come back we can play Nazi death camp. You can beat me and put me in the oven. "Or feed me cabbage and lock me in the shower. I am truly sorry."
Ms Laursen said she “wasn’t a big fan of any of this”, and responded with “I quit”.
She added: “One of my male co-workers, obviously realising he would be experiencing ‘a day without a woman’ for the indefinite future and would have to do more work, encouraged me to come back into the office saying, ‘It was just a joke'."
“My co-workers had worked there for years and my only guess is that they slowly became desensitised to [the boss’] behaviour to the point where the line of what is normal or acceptable didn’t just blur, it disappeared.
“Which is sad, because I otherwise liked them. But, I understand the psychological effects a person of power can have on their crew.
"Look at Helter Skelter (a reference to psychotic cult leader Charles Manson). I’m sure those girls who led random victims to Charles Manson to be murdered could also be really fun at a game night playing cards against humanity."
MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS
Ms Laursen added that the “response... shouldn’t have surprised me considering my past exchanges with him”, but described the email as the “final straw”.
She added that her Christmas bonus that year was red lingerie that “made me look like a ham”, but pointed out that her boss “is gay so it could be weirder”.
“He could be kind of terrible,” she wrote.
“However, sometimes he was actually really cool and funny and nice... That’s why it’s harder to get out of these situations.
"Good qualities aside, a majority of the time he was screaming terrific things like the N-word at the top of his lungs while describing black clients who were frustrating him.
“He would call his employees ‘f***ing retards’, and scream he is never friends with women. Then it would slowly dawn upon him that he maybe took things a little too far, and he would say, ‘I was just joking.’
"Knowing that his employees are not professional joke judges on Last Comic Standing, he was confident that he had just convinced us that we simply missed the clever and subtle punchline.”
Ms Laursen said she had originally intended to tell her story anonymously, but “the truth is, I stand proudly by everything I’ve written”.
“If someone chooses not to hire me because of this, it will likely save us both from a weird workplace fit,” she added.
“If someone doesn’t want to be my friend because of this I respectfully understand that our differences would probably come between us sooner or later and we should probably spend our time with like-minded people.
"I value and respect who I am and I want to be surrounded by people who value and respect me too.
“Please don’t let anyone treat you like this, and to paraphrase the great Mike Birbiglia — 'If you have to say it was a joke, it wasn’t a good joke'.”
The post has been shared nearly 1000 times and attracted hundreds of comments.
“This is brave of you to share, bulls*** that it exists, and calling it out is definitely another dent in the hierarchy of Hollywood,” wrote Leeann St. John.
“Thank you for fighting for us all. Also, this is hilariously written. I hope it goes viral and [his] downfall is your ladder. That sounds like justice.”
Zein Khleif added: “Definitely resonated with work abuse being akin to that of an abuser at home. I stuck around way too long at my old job, and endured way more emotional abuse than I ever should have.
"And my boss was a woman, unfortunately. Thanks for publishing this! I’d do the same with mine if I wouldn’t get sued for breaking my contract."
A version of this story originally appeared on News.com.au
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368