Uber, the ride-sharing company that was long mired in a variety of cascading scandals, bought out half the seats to a London theater premiering a play satirizing the aforementioned affairs.
The producers of the new play, Brilliant Jerks, became “unnerved” after finding that Uber purchased 50 of the 90 seats, according to The Financial Times.
“We’re partly flattered — though slightly unsettled — they’ve booked so many seats,” Rosy Banham, the play’s director, told FT. “We’ve got no way to know if they plan on attending but hope they’ll turn up.”
Uber has a considerable presence in the U.K. with roughly 200 staffers (non-drivers) of some sort.
The play depicts a fictional former CEO named Tyler Janowski, vaguely similar to the real Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who was ousted after a series of apparent setbacks and embarrassments. The theatrical production in particular centers around the main controversy that opened the floodgates for other issues — Susan Fowler, a former engineer, who detailed incredibly disturbing allegations of internal misconduct like sexual harassment and unbridled lewd behavior in general.
An Uber representative said it often organizes fun, team-bonding activities like collectively enjoying a thespian experience, according to Business Insider.
“After seeing shows like ‘Wicked,’ ‘An American in Paris’ and ‘Romeo & Juliet’ the social team thought it would be fun to see this new production,” the Uber official continued, “especially as the tickets were on a buy one get one free offer!”
It appears that Uber is either really good at taking jokes (and is not inclined to be easily offended), wants to see how some of the public truly perceives it, or doesn’t mind when the jabs are directed at its former leader and current board member.
“This I imagine is more catharsis for those there [at the company] in 2017,” Mike Isaac, The New York Times reporter who broke several stories about Uber and is now writing a book about the powerful firm, said in a tweet.
Send tips to eric@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.