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Cher Attacks Misogynist Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: You’ve Got a Lot of Nerve

Singer reignites equal pay dispute with incendiary tweets

Oct 13, 2014 15:43 GMT  ·  By
Cher goes after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Twitter after his controversial comments on closing the gender pay gap
   Cher goes after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Twitter after his controversial comments on closing the gender pay gap

Last week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella inadvertently caused a major storm in the media when he spoke at the Grace Hopper Celebration, and on the topic of closing the gender pay gap, he said something along the lines that female employees should have the “superpower” to wait for the pay raise they’re due instead of asking for it.

Attacked from all sides and confronted with actual proof that the pay gap between men and women still exists and stances like his are detrimental to the feminist movement, Nadella apologized and explained that he had worded his thoughts on the matter in a most unfortunate manner.

Singer Cher isn’t buying his apology. Well, it’s either that or she didn’t even hear of it, because she’s just lashed out at Nadella on Twitter – big time.

“Misogynist in chief” owes women respect: forget about that “karma” business

“One of the additional superpowers that, quite frankly, women who don’t ask for a raise have. Because that’s good karma. It’ll come back,” Nadella said when asked how he’d advise women to ask for a raise. He continued that good things come to those who wait, especially if they’re women. The implication was that men don’t have to wait for the raise, they can just go ahead and ask for it.

Cher isn’t having any of this. Though she probably never had to worry about the gender pay gap for a day in her life, she’s standing up for women – and putting Nadella on blast in the process.

Her emoji game is very impressive as well.

Aside from that, Cher points out all that’s wrong with Nadella’s (original) comment: women should get equal pay as men for the same kind of work, and no distinction should be made between men and women in terms of getting a raise, whether solicited or not.

She urges the Microsoft CEO to stop “patting” women on the head and show them the respect they’re due, by compensating their work in the same way he does a man’s. In between, she calls him old-fashioned and shameless for going on the record with his comments, and promises him he’s lost her respect / support.

Cher refuses to be a second class citizen and instigates her ladies to stand up as one in the face of such injustice as that of unequal pay.

Equal pay, a hot topic with today’s feminists

Nadella’s timing was superbly off, because his comment about “karma” and the stance women should take when they felt they were owed a raise for their work came just as the entire Hollywood was talking about equal pay and measures that must be taken to close the gap between men and women.

With elections coming in, this is becoming a hotter topic than ever and, as it happens, more female stars are lending their voice to the cause. Cher is definitely one of them.

We won’t discuss here if the gender pay gap exists or not (there will always be those who say it does and those who claim the contrary), but there’s no denying that Nadella put his foot in his mouth with his statement and that his faux pas was almost catastrophic in scale, especially for a company that prides itself with enabling / promoting equality between the sexes.

Cher is justified in calling him out for it, even though she does it in too passionate a manner for some people’s tastes. First of all, even if she never had to deal with this issue personally, she leads by example and is using her star power to draw attention to a pressing social issue. Secondly, she’s entitled to her opinion and is free to express it whichever way she sees fit – and on whichever platform she fancies.

She’s probably not expecting a response from Microsoft or the CEO because all there could be said to fix this faux pas has already been said. So she’s gotten none so far.