Editorial

Vox Dropping Christmas Party Open Bar Over Harassment Fears Is Ridiculous

Shutterstock/ DisobeyArt

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
Font Size:

Vox, a left-wing media outlet, won’t have an open bar at its Christmas party after several media members have been accused of sexual harassment, according to HuffPost.

Vox sent out the following letter to its employees, via HuffPost:

Hello all,

We invite you and a guest to join us at Vox Media’s holiday party on December 12 at Freehold. Details are in the invite – please click to RSVP by Wednesday, December 6th.

A note on alcohol at this event: This year, at the request of many of you, we will ramp up the food and cut down on the drinks. There will be more passed hors d’oeuvres to keep everyone well-fed. And instead of an open bar, each attendee will receive two drink tickets with which they can get alcoholic drinks if they choose. After that only non-alcoholic drinks will be available.

We recognize that even though alcohol isn’t always the reason for unprofessional behavior, creating an environment that encourages overconsumption certainly contributes to it. We hope that you all appreciate the spirit of this change and we look forward to celebrating with you!

Sincerely, The Experiential Team

There are a couple things to break down here. First, this is insanely offensive if you’re an employee of Vox. The company is pretty much telling you that if you get drunk that there’s a good chance you’re going to do something incredibly stupid. How little do the Vox executives and bosses think of their employees? I would be infuriated if I worked at Vox and they not so subtly tried to let everybody know they’re only a few drinks away from sexually harassing somebody.

Secondly, who the hell goes to a Christmas party without an open bar? Literally nobody. The whole point of a Christmas party is to get wasted and cut loose with your friends and coworkers. That’s day one stuff. I’ve been through a Christmas party or two in my long 25 years of life, and I don’t think anybody ever floated the idea of making it more fun by offering less booze. That’s not what our Founding Fathers fought for. That’s not what America is all about.

In this country, we have the beautiful freedom to shotgun a beer, wave around a shotgun and wait for a fat guy in a sleigh to break and enter into our houses with gifts. I feel so bad for the people at Vox. Nobody, and I mean nobody, should have to endure a two-drink limit Christmas.

Finally, I absolutely reject this dumb premise that if you have a couple drinks you’re going to engage in harassment. That’s a lazy excuse and a cop-out. People do dumb things when drunk, such as betting way to much money on the second half of the Iron Bowl (and then winning). Beer doesn’t turn you into Kevin Spacey or Harvey Weinstein.

Very weak stuff from Vox. Very weak, indeed.

Follow David on Twitter

Tags : vox
David Hookstead

Follow David Hookstead on Twitter and Instagram