A man in an “important position” who takes six months’ paternity leave is a “loser,” Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale declared this week.
Lonsdale made the remark Wednesday in response to a tweet about President Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg taking time off to care for his newborn twins, which has sparked criticism from prolific podcaster Joe Rogan.
“Wow. Great for fathers to spend time w their kids and support moms, but any man in an important position who takes 6 months of leave for a newborn is a loser,” Lonsdale said.
“In the old days men had babies and worked harder to provide for their future – that’s the correct masculine response.”
The venture capitalist added in a follow-up tweet, “If a man’s work is part of an important mission that’s having a positive impact or lifting up the lives of thousands of people, six full months off for a newborn is inane.”
“If you have a s–tty job you don’t care about or aren’t key to inspiring goals, then sure just abandon it,” he said.
Lonsdale’s tweet sparked immediate backlash.
“Initialized has 4 months leave, and I took all 4 months to make sure everyone at Initialized felt like they could do it,” the company’s co-founder Garry Tan tweeted.
“Respect that people have different choices, but being a dad is awesome and there is more to life than work and money,” he went on.
Lonsdale has three kids and is a longtime pal of Peter Thiel, the conservative billionaire and entrepreneur.
Later on Twitter, Lonsdale acknowledged that using the word “loser” was “uncalled for,” but he insisted it’s important to maintain traditional gender roles.
“Sad that apparently lots of men actually believe in pretending they are the same as a woman and taking 100% time off for six full months for a newborn, vs some weeks and part time off and then investing their time off with family in more logical and measured ways,” he wrote.