Google CEO: We didn't fire the diversity memo writer for political reasons
Beck Diefenbach/Reuters
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company did not fire James Damore, the author of the controversial memo on diversity, for political reasons.
Damore sued Google for discrimination last week. The lawsuit claims Google discriminates against white, male, conservative employees.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Friday that the company didn't fire engineer James Damore for political reasons.
"I regret that people misunderstand that we may have made this [decision] for a political position one way or another," Pichai said in an interview with Recode's Kara Swisher and MSNBC's Ari Melber for a special that will air on MSNBC later this month.
Damore wrote the infamous Google memo on diversity where he implied that women did not have the genetic predisposition for engineering jobs. He was fired after the memo leaked and went viral and has since claimed his termination was because he was a conservative in a company that adheres to liberal values.
Following Damore's firing last August, Pichai said in a memo to employees that Damore was fired because his memo violated Google's code of conduct.
Damore sued Google last week, saying the company discriminates against white, male, conservative employees.
The Q&A with Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojciki is set to air on MSNBC on Friday January 26, in a program called "Revolution: Google and YouTube Changing the World."
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