"If You're Being Attacked...": US Entrepreneur Reacts To Backlash Over Bali Trip With Staff

A US entrepreneur who faced backlash for bragging about taking his entire staff on a trip to Bali has now responded to the criticism. It all began when Stephen Turban, co-founder and director at Lumiere, shared a LinkedIn post about the trip, but his choice of words sparked outrage. "I'm taking my entire team to Bali in two weeks. And if you're not going? Your life f**king sucks," he wrote. While some praised the gesture, many social media users slammed him for putting others down. Following the backlash, Mr Turban has now addressed the controversy.

"I woke up this morning to 4000 people calling me a douchebag on Reddit. And honestly? I couldn't be happier," the entrepreneur wrote in his latest LinkedIn post. "This morning, a friend sent me a picture of Reddit. 'Dude, your LinkedIn post is blowing up. They're shitting on you hard haha.' And you know what I felt? Pure and utter joy," he continued, adding, "Not because people were calling me a douchebag. Or a toxic loser. That kinda s**ks to hear. But, I was happy because this is exactly what I want. 

Mr Turban concluded the post saying, "If you're being attacked. You're on the right path."

Take a look below: 

The co-founder's latest post again caught the internet's attention, but this time it found support. 

"If everyone agrees with you, you're probably not doing anything original. Hate means attention. Attention means awareness. And awareness builds leverage," one user wrote. 

"I actually saw that post on Reddit and didn't understand what the fuss was about. At the end of the day, people are probably jealous. But hey, they aren't the ones in Bali!" commented another. 

"People criticize you online and it doesn't matter because they don't even know and it shows you're doing something big. Well done Stephen Turban," said a third user. 

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However, some users still criticised the entrepreneur, saying that it's not okay to put others down. 

"People are dunking on you, not because they're jealous of your success, your degree from HBS or your trip to Bali. They're trashing you for being an entitled pompous a** who thinks everyone else's life sucks. Learn some humility. Maybe then you can call yourself 'nice'," one user commented. 

"Did you, for a moment, wonder WHY they're dunking on you? Not a shred of regret for telling people that "their lives suck" if they don't work with you? Maybe some day you'll introspect and figure that being a decent human being is critical to your mental well being," said another.