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twodave | on: Jensen Huang resigns
The number of people here who don’t take sexual harassment in the workplace by the CEO of a world-leading company to be a serious, fireable offense—and the fact that so many of you claim to care about things like women’s rights and social justice—is mind-boggling to me. This is a man who could be fired just for OFFERING to have sex with a subordinate. The fact the he did it, and that she got promoted seals his fate as a predator in my mind. But we live in an age where the only truth people believe is the one that makes them feel a certain way, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
timmg | parent | next
> sexual harassment in the workplace

I had only heard about a consensual relationship.

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wewewedxfgdf | root | parent | next
Wokeness demands the most uncharitable interpretation of events.
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netrap | parent | next
Not sure about the sexual harassment angle you're pushing... it's about trust isn't it? If you have consensual affairs as a CEO, you are still liable to be fired if it becomes public, that's my opinion anyway.
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kphorn | parent | next
In any scenario it’s not appropriate. Among peers, everyone knows about the “special relationship” and it directly attacks any perception of fairness and enables others to justify similar or worse behavior in the org.
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lavendermon | parent | next
A good point and the line of thinking you're describing implies that power should override anything else. Rather than rules that apply to everyone, what level of power within a company should no longer be subject to firing for engaging in a power-abuse sexual relationship?

Misbehavior without consequences seems to have become more noticeable in politics within the past ten years, with mainstream news outlets reporting on insider trading and potential bribes for favors. This ethos of power over accountability seems to be having a trickle down effect on general sentiment.

JohnnyMarcone | parent | next
This whole thing is making me question whether I should continue reading HN. It's not just this story either, it seems a sub-section of the HN community has taken a hard-right swing in the last couple years.

People in these threads are pretending that 75% of the story doesn't exist and it's just about an affair... insane.

EDIT: Is this just X infecting HN? I don't go on X so I don't know what it's like.

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al_borland | parent | next
Do we know that he offered? It is possible that she went after him. These things aren't always so cut and dry.
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lavp | parent | next
I think the angle is more so on lack of equal accountability.

Musk has done worse, yet nothing has really happened to him.

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cubefox | parent | next
> The number of people here who don’t take sexual harassment in the workplace by the CEO of a world-leading company to be a serious, fireable offense—and the fact that so many of you claim to care about things like women’s rights and social justice—is mind-boggling to me.

It's mindboggling that you describe an apparently completely consensual affair as "sexual harassment". That's absurd.

twodave | root | parent
Maybe you should expand your understanding of the term, then. It's a well-known thing, especially when it comes to extreme power imbalances.
cubefox | root | parent
The term already has a well-established meaning; we shouldn't change our understanding of it. If you mean something else then use different terminology.

Also, I don't think there was an "extreme power imbalance". If anything, she had far more power over him than the other way around, since he had much more to lose and she could blackmail him with making the affair public or other allegations.

twodave | root | parent
I am referring to the meaning established in the law. Many things fall under the legal umbrella of sexual harassment. If you want to describe it as something else maybe you should be the one looking for a new term to coin.
cubefox | root | parent
No. The law does not describe a consensual relationship with a subordinate as "sexual harassment".
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{"deleted":true,"id":50468004,"parent":50467638,"time":1794494255,"type":"comment"}
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compsciphd | parent | next
I mean I said in 2016 Hillary basically behaved this way with Bill in regards to others (notably monica lewinsky) and against basically anyone else (i.e. say whole democrat party field) except Trump that should have been a disqualifying thing (and worse, if the republicans put up a decent person, I suspect Hillary would have won!)

At the end of the day, I wouldn't bash everyone here too strongly when everyone who lined up early behind Hillary basically acted in the same way. (And yes, even though Bill did the act, Hillary lined up easily to defend him, much like the people you mention here)

Jackson__ | parent | next
The number of people here who don't think women can consent to sexual relationships is thankfully not quite as high.
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cataphract | root | parent | next
Maybe it's a generational thing? The younger generations seem to have some sort of anxiety with respect to consent and power dynamics, where even something as trivial as a modest age difference is viewed with suspicion. The movie Obsession can be seen as that anxiety translated into the horror genre.

To be fair though, a CEO having an affair with a subordinate should be seen with at least some suspicion...

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jatora | parent | next
> But we live in an age where the only truth people believe is the one that makes them feel a certain way

The irony is so sweet here.

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igleria | parent | next
money before principles. Not to be crass but this is the ycombinator forum, not bluesky. do not expect principles before money, this is the absolute opposite of trying to preach to the choir.
nemomarx | parent | next
wait who said hn supported social justice and women's rights generally? that's not really been my impression wherever it comes up
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mliker | parent | next
Who do you work for? Curious why you're pushing an unproven narrative? In America, we are innocent until proven guilty. Let's not forget that :)
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dyauspitr | parent | next
The sex is a nothing burger. He would have been fine if they were for instance, latin American and not Chinese.
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sergiotapia | parent | next
If a billionaire can't have consensual sex with women what is the point of it all?

"Subordinate", get a grip!

bad_haircut72 | parent | next
That chick could very well be an American spy who did everything she could to get him into bed, you have no idea what the truth is.
BeetleB | parent | next
Let's dispense with the theatrics. Having a relationship with someone in your chain is not even close to sexual harassment. Yes, it can lead to it but generally it doesn't. It's not at all illegal either.

When I entered the workforce not so long ago most companies didn't even have policies against it. My university didn't make a policy about it until 2012. I know a very happily married couple who got married this way (a little earlier - perhaps around 2006 or 2007). I don't think they'd be happy if I referred to their behavior as "sexual harrasment".

I think it's a good policy and it's fair they enforce it, but equating it to sexual harassment is nonsense.

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jmyeet | parent
I'm... not shocked. Politically, HN skews pretty heavily right. Some of them will claim otherwise, putting rainbow flags in bios and such, but here is where the rubber hits the road. I also believe that the affair with the subordinate was the big problem. He can paint himself a victim of a Chinse spy.

Consider the case of Regina Santos-Aviles [1]. She committed suicide by setting herself on fire and had revealed that she'd been having an affair with her boss.

The power dynamics here are insane. Huang was the CEO and a billionaire. The legal liability that NVidia has or could have because of this is huge, particularly if they did nothing. Now there are big questions about who knew what when.

The reporting says somebody say them in a San Jose hotel and was basically hushed with an NDA, and probably a big payment (I'm guessing; I don't know). Was that from NVidia or Huang personally? What NVidia staff, if any, authorized that?

If the board wants to really clean house they should authorize a thorough external investigation of that and any other possible affairs.

[1]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-gonzales-aide-affair-texts...

orblivion | root | parent | next
> Politically, HN skews pretty heavily right.

I've found HN to be pretty hostile to DOGE (whereas conversation is usually respectful even for fringe viewpoints; something special happened here).

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enronmusk | root | parent | next
> Politically, HN skews pretty heavily right

If you truly believe this, you're living in a bubble. Economically it might be pro free markets, but socially it's heavily "progressive" -- see any discussions about Omarchy, LGBTQ, Elon, or Trump.

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wasfgwp | root | parent
> and a billionaire

That means he can’t have any affairs with anyone who isn’t a billionaire without it turning into sexual harassment due to the imbalance in power?

> basically hushed with an NDA, and probably a big payment

So depending on how big the payment the alleged victim might be pretty happy with the outcome?

I mean if the board believes that the actions of the CEO resulted in financial damage to the company it’s up to them to investigate and deal with it. I just don’t get the whole morality police angle as long as the affair was between consenting rational adults.