- Apparel giant VF Corp announced Tuesday that board member Veronica Wu was stepping down.
- It follows Axios reporting that Wu dismissed racism in the US in a 2020 email.
- She reportedly called Black Lives Matter "the true racists" in the email, viewed by Axios.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Apparel giant VF Corp announced Tuesday that board member Veronica Wu had stepped down, days after Axios reported that she had dismissed racism in the US and called Black Lives Matter "the true racists."
VF Corp said that "Wu's decision to step down from the Board was not the result of any disagreement with VF on any matter relating to VF's operations, policies or practices."
VF is one of the largest apparel companies in the US, and owns Vans, North Face, and Timberland, among other brands.
According to the Axios report, Wu's comments on racism appeared in an email that she sent in 2020 when she was employed at Hone Capital, a venture capital firm, as a managing partner. She was responding to a message from an office manager about Hone Capital's decision to mark the Juneteenth holiday in 2020, Axios reported. This year, Juneteenth became a federal holiday in the US.
Wu was on VF's board at the time. Wu is no longer employed with Hone Capital, according to her LinkedIn profile, which lists her current position as the founder and managing partner at First Bight Capital, a biotech venture capital firm.
"I don't believe in Black Lives Matter," Wu reportedly wrote in the email, which was reviewed by Axios. "If anything I think they are the true racists trying to stir up things to make this country going to socialism or even communism potentially."
Axios also reported that VF Corporation had investigated this email earlier in the year and found it to be "legitimate," but Wu was not removed from the board at the time.
Insider contacted VF Corp and Wu for further comment but did not immediately hear back.
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