Tinder has made it perfectly clear that it has zero tolerance for racism.
On Wednesday, the dating app banned San Francisco man Nick Vedovi for life after he hurled racist and sexist slurs at an Asian woman who, apparently, took too long to respond to his messages.
Rosette Pambakian, Tinder’s VP of Communications and Brand, issued a lengthy statement on Wednesday.
“Tinder has a zero-tolerance policy on disrespect,” she wrote. “No racist rants. No sexist pigs. No trolling. No jerks who can’t get over their own inadequacies long enough to have a decent conversation with another person on Tinder.”
“Why anyone would choose to go out into the world and spread hate I will never understand, but you do not have that choice on Tinder,” she continued. “Hate is not an option and we will continue to fight it wherever it rears its ugly head.”
To conclude her statement, Pambakian made it perfectly clear that anyone who behaves like Vedovi on the dating app will also be banned. “You and your kind are not welcome in our world,” she wrote. “And we have the power to keep you out of it.”
Vedovi’s appalling behaviour on Tinder first came to light after the friend of the woman he was talking to posted screenshots of the interaction on Facebook.
“I met this guy in college and he seemed like a decent guy,” friend Kevin Tran wrote on Monday.
According to Tran, 24-year-old Vedovi and his friend matched over the weekend and exchanged messages. However, when she didn’t immediately respond, he “left a bunch of nasty messages.” Not only did he hurl racist and sexist slurs, but he also criticized the woman for wearing too much makeup and called Asians a “waste of time.”
“I called him out on it, he denied, and he proceeded to block me on all social media,” Tran explained in his post. “Sexism and racism takes many forms and it cannot be tolerated. As a man and POC, we can't let this stand.”
Tran later noted in an update that after he posted his story, several other women came forward revealing that they also had a similar experience with Vedovi and those like him.
“We don't have to put up with this,” Tran wrote. “We have to protect each other by calling these people out, even/especially if they are your friend, and showing that this behaviour will not be tolerated and will never be acceptable.”
Kudos to Tran and Tinder for taking a stand.