Grindr Faces Boycott After Gay CEO's Right-Wing Tweets Are Revealed

This article originally appeared in The Advocate.

The right-wing political views of the new head of Grindr are causing some users to delete the popular gay dating and hookup app.

The tag #DeleteGrindr is trending after news incoming CEO George Arison, 44, previously tweeted he was a conservative who supported some of the positions of then-President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. Arrison, who is openly gay, starts his new job on October 19.

“FYI I am a conservative & agree with some Trump policies,” Arison wrote in a since-deleted Tweet on February 28, 2020.

“Should totally run for President,” he wrote of Youngkin in a retweet dated February 24 of this year.

Arison appeared to express support for DeSantis in another retweet from January. In a retweet, he wrote the man who championed the recently passed “don’t say gay” law was “not ideal” but agreed the Republican governor was “better-suited to advance a new, more comabtive (sic) and populist party.”

Users on social media responded quickly, calling out the past statements from Arison.

Another user called out Arison’s support for Youngkin.

Others indicated they were ditching Grindr completely.

Arison came to Grindr from e-commerce marketplace Shift Technologies, Inc., where he was CEO and co-founder.

In a statement to The Advocate about the issue, Grindr centered on Arison’s sexual identity as a gay man, husband, and father.

“George is an out gay man, proudly married to his husband and the father of two children,” a Grindr spokesperson said. “George is passionate about fighting for the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ people around the world.”