Grindr president Scott Chen is under fire for a Facebook comment he posted in November saying “marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman.”
Chen, who became president in August after Chinese tech company Kunlun Group acquired the dating app, posted a story about HTC president and CEO Cher Wang’s support for anti-LGBT groups in the U.S. that were against same-sex marriage in Taiwan. Into, Grindr’s digital magazine, first reported on the posts which were translated from Chinese to English.
“There are people who believe that marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman. I agree but that’s none of our business. There are also people who believe that the purpose of marriage is to create children that carry their DNA. That’s also none of our business. There are people that are simply different from you, who desperately want to get married. They have their own reasons,” Chen wrote in the since-deleted post.
He added: “Why spend all that money to stop people who love each other from getting married? Aren’t there more important stuff in life? I’ll never buy HTC products ever again, and I’ll never donate a cent to any Christian groups in Taiwan.”
Into published the story on Nov. 29 writing on social media that Chen “does not support same-sex marriage.”
BREAKING: INTO has learned that President of Grindr does not support same-sex marriage, according to deleted social post. https://t.co/Heb7KeVDqB pic.twitter.com/0x3tvSKxAK
— INTO (@Into) November 29, 2018
Chen responded in the comments of the story calling it “unbalanced and misleading” and that he had never been approached for comment. He continued on that his comments were mistranslated and the story “hurts Into and Grindr’s reputation.”
Into updated their original story to include Chen’s statement that he believes his post was misconstrued.
“The reason I said marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman is based on my own personal experience. I am a straight man married to a woman I love and I have two beautiful daughters I love from the marriage. This is how I feel about my marriage. Different people have their different feelings about their marriages. You can’t deny my feelings about my marriage,” Chen says.“I am a huge advocate for LGBTQ+ rights since I was young. I support gay marriage and I am proud that I can work for Grindr.”
