On Thursday (Jun 26), Abiola Oke took to social media to respond to allegations that he subjected Black women employees to a hostile working environment.
“As a first time CEO of a minority-led media company with a great vision, I made business decisions for the company with the intentional consideration of how it would affect different members of my team and so in the process unknowingly hurt Black women,” Oke wrote.
Journalist and former OkayAfrica writer Ivie Ani responded to Oke’s apology with a response from the women who were subjected to the unfair treatment, calling out Oke for his lack of accepting responsibility before calling two majority owners of the publication, Stephen and Sam Hendel for failing to remove Oke when they were alerted about the misconduct earlier this month.
We also seek to receive public apologies from members of the board, founders, and leadership for failing to provide a safe work environment for Black women employed by the company. ”
Although Hislop publicly stated she fully supports the women, former writer Ivie Ani responded to Hislop’s claim stating that while they appreciate the public effort, her lack of accepting full responsibility in her role in not only sequestering the women’s complaint but also failing to report the misconduct that she witnessed before adding that Hislop has yet to contact them directly.
