Reddit changes logo and co-founder resigns in support of BLM

CEO of Reddit Alexis Ohanian attends WORLDZ Cultural Marketing Summit 2017 at Hollywood and Highland on July 31, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
(Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for PTTOW!)

If you’ve loaded up Reddit this week, you might have noticed something different.

The SF-based social news aggregation site that’s been called “the front page of the internet” has turned its smiling alien logo from orange color to black in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd.

Current CEO Steve Huffman posted a letter to Reddit employees on June 1 outlining support for the Black Lives Matter movement, but it did not include specific actions the company was taking. The logo will remain black for eight days, in symbolism of the number of minutes Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin held his knee on George Floyd’s neck.

The decision has drawn controversy from certain Reddit communities and even the former CEO Ellen Pao who accused the platform of amplifying racism by not shutting down a popular community on the site called “the_donald,” which grew during Donald Trump’s presidential run. The community, called a "subreddit," was "quarantined" in 2019 with a warning to users and set to "restricted mode" in February to limit new posts.

Today, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian announced his resignation from his role on the board of directors and asked to be replaced with a black candidate. He has also donated one million dollars to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights campaign, and said he will funnel all future gains on his Reddit stock to benefit the black community.

Watch the full video of his announcement below:

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I co-founded @reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging.  It is long overdue to do the right thing. I’m doing this for me, for my family, and for my country. I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: “What did you do?” I have resigned as a member of the reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate, and I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate, and I’m starting with a pledge of $1M to @kaepernick7’s @yourrightscamp  I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now. To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.

A post shared by Alexis Ohanian Sr. (@alexisohanian) on Jun 5, 2020 at 9:24am PDT

Dan Gentile is a digital editor at SFGATE. Email: Dan.Gentile@sfgate.com | Twitter: @Dannosphere