Who’s Austin Franco? US scholar accused of antisemitism after saying he was ‘not taken with working for a Jew’
A summer time internship utility at a New York start-up took a stunning flip when a Cornell College scholar rejected an interview alternative with an antisemitic message, telling the corporate he was “Not taken with working for a Jew. Thanks.”The message was despatched by 19-year-old Austin Franco after he had utilized for a summer time function at VryfID, a New York-based start-up that helps join renters with landlords and verifies identities to cut back fraud. The corporate is run by brothers Gabe and Aiden Einhorn, who’re Jewish.Based on the founders, Franco had already submitted an utility and was being thought of for a place on the agency’s development staff. Nonetheless, when the corporate tried to rearrange a Zoom interview by way of the job platform Handshake, Franco responded with the eight-word message that left the brothers shocked.“Unhappy world,” Gabe Einhorn, 24, wrote on X on Monday, sharing a screenshot of the trade.Gabe later informed the New York Put up that he determined to make the incident public as a result of he wished to deliver consideration to antisemitism.“I felt unhealthy exposing him as a result of I assumed he may have made a mistake and he actually doesn’t imagine this wholeheartedly,” Gabe mentioned.Any doubts about Franco’s intentions disappeared. A day later, the Cornell scholar defended his feedback in a put up on X.“My experiences with Jews haven’t been nice, each in particular person and on-line. This isn’t to say I haven’t had constructive experiences, however on the combination that’s not the case,” Franco wrote.The incident has now prompted an investigation by Cornell College, the place Franco research industrial and labour relations, based on the New York Put up. His LinkedIn profile has since been deleted.A college spokesperson mentioned: “Cornell condemns antisemitism and all types of hatred and discrimination within the strongest potential phrases.”The controversy has additionally drawn consideration to VryfID, the start-up launched by Gabe and his youthful brother Aiden Einhorn, 22, a enterprise scholar at New York College, in 2025.“As an alternative of renters struggling to seek for flats and getting rejected, now we have them enroll, pay $20 to get verified. Then we truly deliver them flats that they really qualify for,” Gabe defined.“For landlords, it helps them replenish their models and brings them the best tenants.”Gabe usually speaks publicly about his Jewish religion and wears a kippah. He mentioned he has encountered hostility on-line earlier than however by no means something fairly so direct.“I’ve seen some horrible issues throughout the board — antisemitic issues and simply horrible issues on the whole,” he mentioned, including that he had obtained a number of dying threats by way of social media.“Folks similar to to unfold hate throughout social media as a result of they’re nameless they usually haven’t any repercussions.”Regardless of these experiences, the brothers mentioned Franco’s response nonetheless got here as a shock.“Me and my brother type of checked out one another like, ‘What?’ We by no means actually skilled [antisemitism] this straight,” Gabe mentioned.“The entire thing was simply very stunning and uncalled for.”
