Mozilla has announced that its CEO Brendan Eich has resigned in the wake of a controversy surrounding his prior support of an anti-gay marriage law.
The company noted in a post that standing for equality and free speech at the same time is hard. Mozilla also apologized for not handling the situation well and taking too long to engage with the community on the issue.
Mozilla’s Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker told Re/code in an interview that it was indeed Eich’s decision to leave, though he had faced “pressure from all sides.”
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Eich is credited with the creation of the JavaScript programming language and is one of the original founders of Mozilla. He served as the CTO of the Mozilla Corporation for several years, but it wasn’t until his appointment as CEO last month that Mozilla employees and the public raised an outcry about his views. Earlier this week, Dating site OkCupid briefly displayed a pop-up message to visitors using Mozilla’s Firefox urging them to boycott the browser.
➤ Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO [Mozilla blog]
Photo credits: JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images, Mozilla
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