Tinder co-founder and CMO Justin Mateen has been suspended from the dating app maker after the company was sued by a former employee for alleged sex discrimination and harassment. Whitney Wolfe, Tinder's former vice president of marketing, filed the suit Monday in Los Angeles. The complaint accuses Mateen of sending her "a barrage of horrendously sexist, racist, and otherwise inappropriate comments, emails and text messages."
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Mateen was Wolfe's boss, and the pair had a short romantic relationship. Beyond the alleged messages, Wolfe says she was stripped of her co-founder status because Mateen allegedly said a 24-year-old woman co-founder “makes the company seem like a joke." When Wolfe complained of Mateen's alleged harassment, the complaint says, Tinder CEO Sean Rad ignored her concerns and she was pushed out of the company altogether. IAC, one of Tinder's parent companies, said in a statement that an internal investigation confirmed Mateen sent "inappropriate" messages to Wolfe that IAC "unequivocally condemn[s]." But the company said the "allegations with respect to Tinder and its management are unfounded.”
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