A New Jersey magazine has cancelled an upcoming all-male panel at its women's empowerment convention after the event was mercilessly trolled on Twitter.
The "Women's Empowerment Series" is hosted by SJ Magazine and consists of four panels. The events have featured high-powered women in business, like Lara Price, COO of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The panel topics have included, “Gutsy Goals: How you get to the top – and what it’s like when you get there," and the upcoming, "Success Stories: Taking charge without wearing a suit and tie."
The third panel of the series was titled "Women in Business: A man's point of view." The magazine shared a promo for the event on Twitter, with photos of the speakers.
The series also featured an all-male panel last year.
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Their tweet, however, backfired spectacularly, as people began to troll the image of four male speakers at a "women's empowerment event."
Women were like sweetie, no.
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No no.
No thanks.
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Yikes.
Alrighty.
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Pipe down gents.
Some were just speechless.
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???
After the backlash, one of the speakers, NJ Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, dropped out.
"As a son watching my mother break the glass ceiling in politics and as a father of 2 daughters, I have a passion for the pursuit of equality," he wrote. "In light of a full understanding of the composition of this panel, I will be withdrawing from participating and offering my seat instead to someone who can bring a more diverse and inclusive point of view to this critical issue."
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The magazine at first defended itself, saying the panel was just one of four events, and the only one featuring men. They later promised "no mansplaining allowed."
"Men have a responsibility to step up & support women & we want to start the discussion," the magazine wrote.
However, shortly after, they cancelled the panel.
"We believe it is helpful when everyone is part of the conversation," they wrote. "It was never our intent to offend anyone."
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