The president of Levi’s Jeans is stepping down after nearly twenty years with the company, due to her views on COVID-19.
Jennifer Sey spoke out on journalist Bari Weiss’ Substack where she talked about how Levi’s was seen as a symbol of Americana.
“I loved wearing Levi’s; I’d worn them as long as I could remember,” she wrote. “But if you had told me back then that I’d one day become the president of the brand, I would’ve never believed you. If you told me that after achieving all that, after spending almost my entire career at one company, that I would resign from it, I’d think you were really crazy.
“Today, I’m doing just that. Why? Because, after all these years, the company I love has lost sight of the values that made people everywhere—including those gymnasts in the former Soviet Union—want to wear Levi’s.
Sey recalled how during the early days of the pandemic, the jean manufacturer began to silence dissenting views from the mainstream narrative on COVID.
She said that she was told to “pipe down” from Levi executives.
Up until Feb '20 if asked about my politics I would have said left of left of center. But as I've watched "progressive" leaders destroy public education, deny kids access to public life, ruin small businesses, demonize a segment of the population to divide us…
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) July 31, 2021
She was told she speaks on behalf of the company, to which she said “My title is not in my Twitter bio. I’m speaking as a public school mom of four kids.”
She says that calls from the top brass at the company continued to pour in until finally she got a call from the CEO, who told her to think twice about what she was saying
Despite Levi’s having a long history of speaking up about public issues in the San Francisco area, she was told that the company doesn’t “weigh in on hyper-local issues like this.”
Parents in San Francisco have made their voices heard. SF BoE members decisively recalled. Proud to know @jaravis. You did this. You did it. pic.twitter.com/UG4JxFVSeR
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) February 16, 2022
“There’s also a lot of potential negatives if we speak up strongly, starting with the numerous execs who have kids in private schools in the city,” she was told.
She was told that she would be next in line for a CEO position in fall of 2021, but that she would have to pipe down on her views against Covid restrictions. She then said she would not stay at the company.
“For me, this whole thing has sort of culminated in really being about the silencing of dissent,” Sey said to Tucker Carlson in an interview, “and really not being allowed to hold a viewpoint that is outside whatever the mainstream narrative is, the orthodoxy.”
Parents in San Francisco have made their voices heard. SF BoE members decisively recalled. Proud to know @jaravis. You did this. You did it. pic.twitter.com/UG4JxFVSeR
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) February 16, 2022
She says that she was offered a $1 million severance package with a non-disclosure agreement one stepping down, but she declined.
Very grateful for the thousands of thank you emails and DMs I’ve gotten. Amazing. Cry reading all of them. Very grateful.
And for the friends who sent flowers and champagne… I’m a lucky girl.
❤️🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/orVjy4ZbAc— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) February 16, 2022
“The money would be very nice. But I just can’t do it. Sorry, Levi’s,” she said.
