Apple exec who joked to employees about sleeping with Olympic skier retires: report | Latest Tech News
Apple’s fitness chief is retiring in the wake of allegations he fostered a poisonous office and harassed employees — including claims he once joked about sleeping with an Olympic skier.
Jay Blahnik, 57, who served as Apple’s vice president of fitness applied sciences, allegedly joked during a 2021 assembly about sleeping with Olympic skier Ted Ligety, according to two attendees cited by The New York Times.
He also allegedly advised that a member of his workforce secured Ligety’s participation in a fitness characteristic by offering the Olympian a neck therapeutic massage, according to accounts relayed by employees and cited by The Times.
Jay Blahnik, Apple’s former vice president of fitness applied sciences, is dealing with allegations of office misconduct. APPLE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Apple was accused of going to important lengths to defend Blahnik, who helped create standard fitness options on the Apple Watch and later oversaw the company’s Fitness+ service.
The company settled one inappropriate harassment grievance and declined to self-discipline him — while allegedly permitting him to stay in charge of the same workforce and reporting construction tied to the complaints, according to the lawsuit and worker accounts.
Blahnik has also been accused by a number of current and former employees of a broader sample of poisonous habits, including making feedback about trainers’ our bodies, utilizing vulgar language about colleagues’ personal lives and joking about alleged affairs among employees.
A lawsuit filed against Blahnik by a former worker alleges that he inappropriately harassed artistic director Wil Tidman for years and pursued him romantically — then retaliated when the curiosity wasn’t reciprocated.
Olympic skier Ted Ligety was referenced in alleged remarks made during a 2021 Apple assembly. Getty Images
The grievance claims the conduct started shortly after Tidman’s 2019 rent and escalated into a “campaign of harassment and job-related retaliation.”
Blahnik is alleged to have commented on feminine trainers’ “rear ends and breasts,” according to a number of employees cited by The Times.
He also allegedly speculated in entrance of employees that a colleague’s spouse had cheated, utilizing a vulgar time period while pointing to the couple’s baby having a different hair coloration, the report said.
Blahnik additional fueled discomfort with jokes about employees relationships, including quipping during a work call that a male artistic director was having an affair with another male producer, former employees told The Times.
Jay Blahnik led Apple’s Fitness+ push before allegations from employees surfaced. FilmMagic
The government also allegedly “leered” at that same artistic director and made personal feedback about his look.
The habits escalated in 2022, when Blahnik despatched the artistic director what colleagues described as an “inappropriate and unsettling” textual content message, according to people acquainted with the exchange.
After the alleged incident, the artistic director went on medical depart before finally reaching a settlement with Apple, the report said.
Blahnik’s conduct prolonged to confrontations in conferences, including one in which he “exploded” and yelled at worker Mandana Mofidi, according to her lawsuit.
Apple’s Jay Blahnik allegedly joked to colleagues about sleeping with Olympic skier Ted Ligety, according to accounts cited by The New York Times. Getty Images
Mofidi, who filed go well with against Apple and Blahnik in Los Angeles County Superior Court in December 2024, later described the aftermath as “incredibly isolating, humiliating — honestly, scary,” as she alleged retaliation after raising considerations.
Even Apple’s inside review acknowledged issues, according to the lawsuit, with HR officers allegedly describing Blahnik’s conduct as “harsh,” “unsympathetic,” and “probably demotivating,” while noting a number of employees had seen Mofidi crying at work.
Despite that, she was saved in the same reporting construction, the grievance says.
Apple Watch’s Activity Rings grew to become a signature characteristic under Jay Blahnik’s management. sompong – stock.adobe.com
Mofidi finally went on medical depart and was identified with PTSD by an Apple Wellness doctor, citing panic assaults, sleep disruption and other bodily symptoms, according to the submitting.
When she sought to return on the condition she not report to Blahnik, Apple allegedly denied the request and later cut off her system access — main to what she claims was an efficient termination.
Megan Thomas, a New York-based inappropriate harassment attorney, told The Post the case displays a broader sample in office discrimination.
“This case highlights a problem I call the Cinderella effect. Employers hold women to a higher standard and require them to work more, while paying them less. When they speak up, they often face retaliation,” Thomas said.
She added that legal motion, while daunting, is often mandatory to drive accountability.
“It is incredibly difficult to stand up for yourself and sue your employer, but sometimes it is the only way to create real change. The reality is, if this is happening to one woman, it is happening to many. And when one woman stands up, she is not just standing up for herself, she is standing up for others too,” she told The Post.
Nine current and former employees described the office as “verbally abusive, manipulative and inappropriate,” with more than 10 employees taking prolonged mental health or medical depart since 2022, according to the Times.
Apple has denied wrongdoing and said an inside investigation discovered no evidence to assist the claims, though the company settled one grievance alleging inappropriate harassment.
The Post has sought remark from Apple, Blahnik, Tidman, Ligety and Mofidi.
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