- Polymarket's CLO Neal Kumar apologized for a racist post from a company account
- The offensive post targeted users from India, Nigeria, and Turkey with racial insults
- The post was shared by Polymarket's Growth Lead William LeGate without apology
Days after Polymarket shared a post containing racist language, its Chief Legal Officer (CLO), Neal Kumar, issued a statement. Kumar apologised for the post, saying the company was taking "full responsibility" for its actions. The now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) post reportedly used racial insults while accusing some of its users based in India, Nigeria, and Turkey of pretending to be women.
"The post earlier this week from an unofficial Company account was unacceptable, and we take full responsibility. As an Indian American, looking up the history of the term sucked," wrote Kumar.
"I've always found engagement to be far more effective than rage, and believe this came from a place of misunderstanding, not hate. Uncomfortable conversations to understand each other is a practice to live and breathe, and we had one here this week to make us stronger. We apologise for the pain and we are committed to doing better."
While Kumar attempted to end the controversy, his post received a community note, stating that the racist post came from a verified Polymarket-affiliated account.
"The racist post came from a verified Polymarket-affiliated account and was reposted by their Growth Lead William LeGate. Neither LeGate nor Polymarket's official account has apologised; only the Indian-American CLO has," read the community note.
'Why Are You Apologising?'
His apology did not go down well with social media users, who asked why an Indian-American was apologising when Indians were racially attacked in the post.
"Why are you, as an Indian, apologising instead of whoever is responsible," said one user, while another added: "Neal, I like your company a lot and fully plan on using it when it arrives in the US, but Polymarket's social media strategy is the worst I've ever seen. Almost every official account tweets rage bait, misinformation, and lies. All just to drive engagement."
A third commented: "While strongly against cancel culture, you need to make it right the correct way. post the apology from your official polymarket account and have your head of growth apologise, if you genuinely believe any wrong was done.
A fourth said: "There's no way that someone hired for being extremely online doesn't know what it means and its origin. It was listed along nationalities. We aren't stupid."
