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(BrewDog Founders James Watt and Martin Dickie)
James Watt, the co-founder and chief executive of BrewDog, is both apologizing (and not) for allegations made in a recent BBC documentary.
Here’s the deal…
On January 24 , BBC Disclosure (think 60 Minutes but with a British accent) debuted a documentary entitled The Truth About BrewDog, which as the title hints at was a less than flattering portrait of the Scotland-headquartered and now global craft brewer.
The BBC, had already been leaking some findings from the expose’, like that BrewDog had skirted US import laws to get its beer into the country six years ago. But it’s the accusations against co-founder James Watt accusing him of inappropriate behavior towards female staff and abuse of power in the workplace, that’s getting the most attention now.
The new documentary alleges that 15 female bartenders who no longer work for BrewDog were made to feel “uncomfortable” and “powerless” by Mr Watt’s behavior.
In a tweet, James Watt responded to the BBC documentary with a threat of legal action…
“The BBC published claims which are totally false & they published them despite the extensive evidence we provided to demonstrate that they were false.’
“Reluctantly, I am now forced to take legal action against the BBC to protect my reputation.”
At a recent investor’s forum, Watt took the opportunity to apologize to all the women he may have offended, while addressing BBC accusations that his entertaining intoxicated women in US BrewDog bars and sometimes taking those women on special tours of the brewery was in any way inappropriate…
“Secondly, and more importantly, I hugely regret anyone feeling in any way uncomfortable around me, as the program set out.” This is absolutely the last thing I want and something I will learn from immediately. I truly apologize to anyone who felt that way. This was never my intention.”
“However, I would argue that people feeling uncomfortable around me based on false rumors and misinformation does not represent inappropriate behavior on my behalf.”
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It’s been a controversial year for Watt…
BREWDOG’S JAMES WATT TAKES 100% BLAME FOR TOXIC WORKPLACE CULTURE
