Apple’s VP of procurement Tony Blevins has been fired over a sexist joke he made in a TikTok video which went viral in September.

The video showed Mr. Blevins getting out of his Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren at a car show and being asked what he does for a living. He responded: “I race cars, play golf and fondle big-breasted women. But I take weekends and major holidays off.”

In an early morning phone call, the tech giant demanded that he gets the video taken down immediately.

Mr. Blevins, 55 years old, said he stayed up all night trying to contact the TikToker, who goes by the online name Daniel Mac and questions people driving luxury cars about what they do for a living but received no response.

“‘This is really bad, some people have complained,’” Mr. Blevins said he remembered the Apple executive saying.

He was initially asked to resign and then fired a few days after the video went viral.

Mr Blevins claimed that his comment was a a reference to the 1981 comedy “Arthur,” in which a bawdy Dudley Moore makes a similar remark in response to a question about what he does for a living.

 

“It was 22 years dissolved in about 25 seconds,” said Mr. Blevins. He added: “It utterly shocked me. My whole life has been Apple. I tried to be the most loyal person.”

No one has filled in on his position yet. His unit has been reorganized throughout Apple’s operations unit, according to Mr Blevins.

Chris Deaver, a former senior human-resources official at Apple who left in 2019, said Apple takes company values on inclusion seriously, especially when it comes to potential leaders and executives. He sided with Apple on the matter.

“Leaders need to embody Apple’s principles,” Mr. Deaver said in an interview.

Mr. Blevins said that Apple humiliated him and damaged his reputation.

While some backed him saying that they had not seen him make any other sexist comments, others claimed that firing him was the right move for Apple as they should not tolerate behaviour of that sort among employees.

Apple’s spokesperson declined to comment.