Crain’s Chicago bows out of tech event after sexist invite

Crain’s Chicago Business has ended its sponsorship of the Techweek conference after people invited to it objected to a sexist invitation featuring scantily clad women, reports Jim Romenesko.

John Pletz of Crain’s Chicago writes, “Iain Shovlin, Techweek’s chairman, issued a classic non-apology. Here’s a snippet:

“‘The ‘Black Tie Rave’ is a tongue-in-cheek branded event that has a serious mission: giving back . . . .The last thing we want to do is alienate anyone in the community, and we sincerely apologize if this event or imagery is offensive to you.’

“David Snyder, publisher of Crain’s Chicago Business, was not impressed. Crain’s today pulled the plug on its sponsorship of the event. ‘Techweek’s response to their highly offensive promotion for their Black Tie Rave was not sufficient so we have decided to reconsider our involvement in this year’s event,’ Mr. Snyder said in a statement today.

“You can read the full text of Techweek’s apology at the end of this post.”

Read more here.