Search form

Scroll To Top
News & Opinion

UPDATE: Executive Leaves Grindr After Its President's Gay Marriage Comments

UPDATE: Executive Leaves Grindr After Its President's Gay Marriage Comments

Grindr Head of Communications

The former head of communications says "I refused to compromise my own values or profesional integrity."

MikelleStreet

UPDATE: In a statement sent to OUT, a Grindr spokesperson confirmed that Landon Rafe Zumwalt, the company's former head of communications, has resigned. ""As Landen shared in his Medium post, he has resigned from his position at Grindr," they wrote in a statement. "We wish him the best in his future endeavors and appreciate his contributions to the company and the Grindr community."

ORIGINAL: Grindr's head of communications Landon Rafe Zumwalt announced that he is no longer with the company in an open letter published to Medium today.

"As an out and proud gay man madly in love with a man I don't deserve, I refused to compromise my own values or professional integrity to defend a statement that goes against everything I am and everything I believe," he wrote in the letter which was coupled with a photo of Grindr's staff. "While that resulted in my time at Grindr being cut short, I have absolutely no regrets. And neither should you."

While Zumwalt does not expressly define what statement he refers to in his letter -- he denied OUT's request for further comment-- last week, INTO published screenshots of Facebook posts by Grindr President Scott Chen stating that he believed marriage is a "holy matrimony between a man and a woman." The president would later criticize the publication for "unbalanced and misleading" reporting, questioning why the reporter had not reached out to him before publishing.

INTOis owned by Grindr.

"It has been a privilege to come to work every day to fight for our community," Zumwalt continued in his letter. "I am--and will continue to be--immensely proud of the work we were allowed to do during my time at Grindr."

"For those who remain, those who will continue to fight for our community from within, know I will be cheering you on from the sidelines," he wrote. "Persist. Make your voices heard. And never compromise who you are for someone else."

This was not the only scandal that the Chinese-owned company found it self in recently. Following the release of Ariana Grande's "thank u, next," INTO published an article that was criticized widely. After a full retraction, the publication's editor-in-chief Zach Stafford issued an apology.

"Moving forward, I am working with the entire INTO team to ensure something like this doesn't happen again," he wrote. "I will be making some internal editorial changes that will be announced soon."

This original story has been updated to reflect Grindr's statement.

RELATED: UPDATED: The President of Grindr Just Said He's AGAINST Gay Marriage

Advocate Channel - The Pride StoreOut / Advocate Magazine - Fellow Travelers & Jamie Lee Curtis

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Mikelle Street

Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.

Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.