Stop Apologizing, Glenn
Leaders must stand by their convictions, not bow to ideology.
After self-proclaimed “Vessel of Love”, Will Smith, executed his slap heard ‘round the world, just about everyone offered their hot take.
One of those people was Chairman, Glenn Cole, co-founder of the ad agency, 72andSunny.
Glenn seemed genuinely shaken by the ordeal. He was clearly processing the stunning moment and trying to make sense of it like millions of Americans.
That said, the moment I read his take in his LinkedIn post, I knew Glenn was about to find himself in the hot seat.
Well, it appears Glenn Cole’s tookus is feeling quite warm. And Glenn and 72andSunny’s PR department appears to be scrambling to clean up the mess.
But first, let’s be clear. Glenn Cole just expressed what most Americans felt seeing that shocking slap: what an awful moment for Will Smith, for Hollywood, for Chris Rock, for any kids watching and for America.
It was ugly, uncalled for and inexcusable.
Speech is not violence, despite what the ideological left may say. But a violent slap is violence.
Hollywood should know better. Everyone, in fact, should know better. Enough with the therapeutic justifications of Will Smith’s behavior.
Which is to say, there was nothing wrong with Glenn Cole’s LinkedIn take, except:
Glenn’s first mistake is that he is a successful white male. Which means, in the age of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion-induced corporate wokeness, Glenn offered a disapproving opinion on an altercation between three black celebrities. Glenn apparently didn’t know he’s not allowed to opine about such things. More on why in a moment.
The second mistake Glenn Cole made (and this, unlike his first mistake, is an actual, real mistake), he felt the need to dis Joe Rogan at the very end of his take about the Will Smith incident, when he wrote this:
“Let's get off the joe rogan supplements, and get our sh*t together.”
Why did Glenn Cole feel the need to insult Rogan?
Is it because Glenn’s spidey sense told him he was on dangerous footing commenting on the Will Smith kerfuffle?
Maybe Glenn thought it wise to take out some insurance on his post in the form of bashing a supposedly “toxic” white male like Rogan, who’s perceived to be on the “right”. (Nevermind Rogan is not a conservative).
Or perhaps it was Glenn obligatorily signaling to the woke industry progressives who might read his post: “Hey guys, remember, I’m on the right team - Woke State!”
But the Rogan jab aside, this leads us to Glenn’s real sin, at least according to the ad community, which is this: who is Glenn to think he is allowed to offer an opinion at all?
White male Chairman sit down, please.
Now, perhaps Glenn skipped a few of his company’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion meetings (DEI).
DEI, after all, has implicitly taught employees of corporations everywhere that white males need to be quiet. Why? Well, they’re all “privileged”, for one thing. And they’re also patriarchal mansplainers, of course.
The implied message: white males have had their run and, well, it’s time to step aside. They’re all a bunch of racists who’ve contributed nothing to America or humanity, in general, except “systemic racism” and “white supremacy”. And their low-melanin offspring are all collectively guilty for the sins of their fathers.
Or so the DEI logic goes.
But moreover, DEI insists that there’s an intersectional totem pole which explains all disparate outcomes in society. According to this theory, race and gender bias, we’re told, is the sole explanation for all “inequity”. There can be no other explanation. No other contributing variables are even allowed to be considered when it comes to disparate outcomes between ethnic groups in America.
And white, moneyed mad men like Glenn Cole? Well, they sit at the very tippy top of the dominance hierarchy, which makes guys like him the most “privileged” of the “privileged”.
Of course, the DEI philosophy would have you believe Glenn had everything handed to him because, well, he’s born with light skin. At the very least, success came much easier for Glenn. We can be sure of that because he’s a cis white male. Nevermind the very real risks Glenn likely took in starting 72andSunny. Never mind his hustle, determination and talent. The silver spoon just crawled into Glenn’s mouth, because, well, he’s white and male and that explains everything.
This is the flimsy sophistry of DEI. Its claims sound plausible, but it’s an ideology built on fallacies.
See, DEI is incapable of seeing individuals. It only acknowledges group identity.
DEI regards some groups of people as collectively guilty (“oppressors”) and other groups as almost incapable of doing any wrong at all (i.e. the oppressed) - based solely on on immutable traits such as skin color and gender.
How black and white that view is… for lack of a better metaphor.
The problem is, of course, each person is a unique individual.
In Will Smith’s case, he’s world famous, talented, loved, very rich and, well, hardly oppressed. In fact, he felt empowered to smack the crap out of Chris Rock on live TV - not exactly the actions of someone feeling disempowered. Will Smith is so empowered, in fact, he even received a standing O from Hollyweird right after smacking Rock.
But just as DEI can’t view Glenn Cole as an individual, neither can it see Will Smith as one. Instead it views both through the lens of group identity.
Which means Glenn’s Linkedin Post is immediately disqualified simply because his perspective came from a “privileged white male”. And Will Smith’s actions can’t be judged too harshly, because Will Smith is part of an oppressed group.
See how DEI works?
Now it should be pointed out that, ironically, Glenn is the Chairman of an agency that - like all agencies today - very much promotes this simplistic, tribalistic and false ideology.
In other words, Glenn let this particular woke fox into his own hen house.
Now Glenn is discovering he must do DEI’s bidding. He must obey by kneeling to its worldview, along with its demands. Or, the DEI adherents will demand their pound of flesh.
Glenn must apologize for talking while white and male and announce he’s now an “anti-racist”. Not because he’s done anything wrong, but because he could lose his job if he does not say all the things.
So, as you might expect, Glenn did exactly that in issuing a groveling apology in the form of an update to his LinkedIn post .
Adweek even covered it, as 72andSunny probably hoped they would:
In issuing this ridiculous and fake apology, Glenn has just cut a deal with the devil and become a useful tool of the woke to boot.
See, caving to the wokeists may mean saving his job, but it most certainly means the woke will have ever more demands of Glenn.
That’s how the woke cult works. (Wokeness hasn’t moved through America’s institutions like wild fire for nothing.) Indeed, as Andrew Sullivan once wrote, we all live on campus now.
So, in summary: Glenn Cole’s only true sin in his LinkedIn post was strangely bashing Joe Rogan, who despite being a 4-time Taekwondo State Champion, has never shown an inclination to slap a much smaller man over a bad joke, as Will Smith did to Chris Rock.
Meanwhile, Glenn has apologized for something he shouldn’t have: his very reasonable take on Will Smith’s out-of-control behavior.
Based on Will Smith’s own apology, even Smith himself very much agrees with Glenn Cole’s original POV. It was wrong to slap Chris Rock and there’s no excuse. Period.
And Glenn Cole wasn’t wrong to say so in his LinkedIn post. Skin color has nothing to do with this whole sordid mess - not for Glenn Cole or Will Smith.
But thanks in large part to DEI, skin color now, sadly, is the distorted lens through which we view this event and, increasingly, everything in American life.
We all must stand against that.
If we don’t, if we instead rationalize violence, offer fake apologies to save ourselves and fail to stand by the truth, as Glenn has, then more violence will be the result.
Let’s be leaders.
Let’s stand up to the mob.
Let’s “Normalize” standing by one’s convictions, no matter the cost
Let’s stop apologizing, Glenn.