Part of me is like, ‘You didn’t need to blow up the kid’s spot.’ But then again, he doubled down and can clearly handle the social media backlash. Austin Franco, 19, a student at Cornell, went viral online for turning down an internship at a New York City startup. His reasoning was blunt and offensive: he didn’t want to work for Jews. He rejected the offer, but one of the startup’s co-founders posted his reply on Twitter. Franco responded. While some hope he ends up permanently unemployed because of his antisemitic comments, something else has happened, and it’s just as disgusting.
Someone started a Franco fundraiser, and it’s raised over $20,000 (via NY Post):
Sick supporters of an antisemitic Cornell student who refused a job interview because he was “not interested in working for a Jew” have raised nearly $20,000 for him — with the top donor forking over a symbolic $1,776.
Austin Franco, 19, went viral when he hatefully declined an interview at VryflD, a New York City-based startup, because its co-founders, brothers Gabe and Aiden Einhorn, are proudly Jewish.
The Einhorns were considering Franco for an internship — but they shared a screenshot showing how he replied to an offer of a Zoom interview, “Not interested in working for a Jew. Thanks.”
The response sparked horror — but also an outrageous GiveSendGo fundraiser, titled “Fund Austin Franco after Jewish doxxing.”
[…]
“Me and my brother kind of looked at each other like, ‘What?’ We never really experienced [antisemitism] this directly,” Gabe said.
Gabe said he thought Franco “could have made a mistake and he really doesn’t believe this wholeheartedly.”
But Franco, an Ivy Leaguer originally from Virginia, stood by it once he was exposed online as the sender.
Cornell is reportedly investigating the incident.
