Apple has fired a recently hired Facebook veteran just hours after other employees began to circulate a petition calling for his firing. The Masters of the Universe have once again demonstrated that cancel culture rules in Silicon Valley.

The Verge reports that Apple has fired a newly hired employee, Antonio García Martínez, after other company employees began to circulate a petition calling for an investigation into his hiring.

Martínez previously worked as a Facebook product manager on the ad targeting team and has previously authored a controversial book about Silicon Valley that seems to be the main point of contention with many Apple employees.

Martínez has been accused of expressing misogynistic views in his book, an excerpt of which can be read below:

According to journalist Matt Taibbi, Apple knew about the book and asked Martínez numerous questions about it during the interview process. Taibbi also claims that Apple recruited Martínez for the position he was ultimately hired for. According to Taibbi, the passage in question was taken completely out of context by Apple’s cancel culture brigade.

Apple employees wrote in the petition calling for the removal of Martínez: “We are deeply concerned about the recent hiring of Antonio García Martínez. His misogynistic statements in his autobiography — such as ‘Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of shit’ (further quoted below this letter) — directly oppose Apple’s commitment to Inclusion & Diversity.”

The petition was signed by more than 2,000 employees before it was published by the Verge. In a statement emailed to the Verge, Apple said:

At Apple, we have always strived to create an inclusive, welcoming workplace where everyone is respected and accepted. Behavior that demeans or discriminates against people for who they are has no place here.

Paul Graham, a popular Silicon Valley venture capitalist and co-founder of Y Combinator, commented on the firing of Martínez in a tweet:

Martínez has yet to publicly comment on the firing.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com