Houston, Kalanick and Zuck walk into a headline

And a bar termed SPiN, the place pictures of them playing ping pong have the tech media in a wonderful mood this Friday.

The cause? At the exact time as Houston’s birthday fun, SPiN was also holding its personal, different “Babes & Balls” celebration with “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” as the concept.

Let us commence from the starting:

Final weekend, Dropbox CEO and founder Drew Houston celebrated his birthday with a evening meal at Babu Ji in the Mission District in San Francisco, which was attended by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

Following the evening meal, the group went to enjoy some ping pong at SPiN in San Francisco. Which is the place the “Babes & Balls: Breakfast at Tiffany’s” celebration will come into enjoy.

Photographs surfaced inside the “Babes & Balls” Facebook photo album of the 3 CEOs playing ping pong, which is how they finished up in this shit-storm of unflattering optics.

It is even now unclear if Zuckerberg and Kalanick knew that the “Babes & Balls” celebration was likely down at SPiN, but Houston was stated as Likely/Went to the BAB celebration on Facebook. We arrived at out to Dropbox and the organization did not right away reply to our inquiry. We’ll update the submit if we listen to again.

We also spoke with Amy Chan, CMO at SPiN and host of the celebration, to question if Houston’s birthday bash was connected to the Babes & Balls celebration.

She said that her buddy (who was in attendance at Houston’s birthday dinner) knew about the “BAB” celebration and was the a person who organized to have place set up at SPiN for the group.

“The celebration wasn’t for Drew at all,” said Chang. “They just took place to arrive during our celebration. And since it was his birthday, we introduced out a birthday dessert like we do for many of our visitors.”

Of course, it does not glance wonderful when some of the tech world’s (and just… the world’s) most impressive gentlemen have their pictures in the “Babes & Balls” Facebook photo album, specially if a person of them really RSVP’d to an celebration with that identify.

A person supply who was at SPiN that night time instructed TechCrunch that Zuck did not know that they ended up likely to a club or that the celebration was termed Babes & Balls. Other sources instructed Fortune that Kalanick did not know the concept of the celebration prior to arriving, either.

The Uber CEO is coming off a tough few months, specially with regard to sexism. The organization has been underneath fire lately just after allegations of sexual harassment and a tradition that either shields or ignores it.

Which is not to mention the movie of Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver in excess of wages, or the a short while ago exposed “Greyball” system that Uber allegedly made use of to thwart authorities throughout the world who ended up cracking down on the ridesharing services.

And so, when information surfaced that Kalanick, Houston and Zuck ended up at a celebration termed “Babes & Balls,” the ensuing headlines ended up inescapable:

• Uber CEO Travis Kalanick performed pingpong with Mark Zuckerberg at a celebration termed ‘Babes and Balls’
• Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Mark Zuckerberg Celebrate Friend’s Birthday at ‘Babes and Balls’ Occasion
• Mark Zuckerberg and Travis Kalanick giggle it up at ‘Babes and Balls’ celebration
• ‘Sexist’ Tech Moguls Underneath Hearth For Attending Special ‘Babes and Balls’ Occasion

It makes feeling, while underneath so considerably pressure, that Kalanick would want to kick again and get pleasure from a fun night time with his mates. He’s also recognised to enjoy by his personal procedures and apologize afterwards, if at all.

But you’d hope that the gentlemen who are shaping our tradition, and environment illustrations for hundreds of youthful founders each working day, would understand the public notion of getting at a celebration termed Babes & Balls. That they have a responsibility to characterize huge workforces, an industry and entrepreneurs in all places.

That said, if Zuck and Kalanick experienced no thought they ended up arriving at SPiN’s Babes & Balls night time — which, aside from the identify, is said to be instead tame — I’m not positive what the “right” study course of motion would be. Do they all depart? Do they refuse pictures? Did they even know the identify of the celebration right until just after they remaining?

There’s no proof that Houston, Kalanick and Zuck did nearly anything at SPiN other than enjoy some ping pong (with Olympic desk tennis player Lily Zhang!) and get pleasure from dessert.

Sure, Houston knew he was likely to an celebration termed Babes & Balls as evidenced by his RSVP. And positive, he must be additional mindful to keep away from putting himself, and his mates, in this circumstance. But he did not identify the celebration. So I’m reserving the lion’s share of my judgment for SPiN and Amy Chan for a identify that is at worst sexist, but also the the very least clever alliteration at any time.

The tech industry is currently “balls” deep into a public excoriation of its procedure of and outlook toward ladies, which is how a reasonably lame birthday just after-celebration built the information. It emphasizes how considerably additional aware persons are starting to be of the optics and realities of sexism in tech. The community’s immune system is waking up — let’s hope it tackles some really true troubles, like the way ladies are paid out, hired and dealt with in tech workplaces.

Showcased Picture: SPiN