Startup co-founder Peter Shih — whose anti-San Francisco rant sparked an outcry that, among other things, resulted in these flyers strewn about town on Friday — published an apology over the weekend. Shih's screed, if you recall, attacked transgender folks, women, cyclists, and Karl (just to name a few).
"I want to sincerely apologize to everyone who read my poorly written blog post about San Francisco. I made idiotic and childish, but worse yet, thoughtless, hurtful and offensive comments that I am deeply sorry about," Shih writes in a blog post regarding his misogynistic and violent missive. "There are no excuses for my poor judgment, so I make none. I take full responsibility that this mistake was completely my own."
"I don't deserve any forgiveness for the stupidity of my actions and words, but I sincerely hope to demonstrate by my future behavior to humbly build up and not tear down the communities and people around me," he adds.
Shih's initial piece, since removed (but thanks to Susie Cagle, you can view it here), prompted simmering contempt for new tech money funneling in the Bay Area to erupt. In addition to finding these anti-Shih flyers posted around the City, #PeterShihFacts turned into a trending topic on Twitter. This gave everyone — from your average Joes to journalists from typically respected mastheads (e.g., S.F. Chronicle, Mother Jones, San Francisco Magazine) — a chance to grab a pitchfork and publicly humiliate Shih for his post.
Items like Shih's are nothing new. Sarah Lacy of the ethically-challenged PandoDaily, published this worrisome tirade back in July, complaining about not being able to get from the Mission to her MidMarket office during the BART strike. Clearly, the City has had enough and are now telling San Francisco's startup culture to, in the wise words of Walter White, tread lightly.