New York Startup Warp Cuts Ties With Racist Affiliate After Outrage On X

Warp, a payroll startup based in New York, has distanced itself from an individual associated with its brand after a series of racist posts on X (formerly Twitter). 

The controversy began when an account using the name “Vittorio,” who had a Warp affiliate badge, made derogatory comments favoring white superiority. 

The post, which quickly sparked outrage, read, “I like White people more, they do more… I’ll let Blacks run and play basketball.”

The affiliate badge linked to Vittorio’s profile suggested an official connection to Warp, a startup focused on automating payroll and tax compliance. 

The badge itself is part of X’s “X for Business” program, typically used by employees of companies. 

However, Warp’s marketing strategy had involved extending these badges to non-employees, which included Vittorio.

Warp Responds to the Controversy

In response to the backlash, Warp immediately denounced the post. The company stated that Vittorio was not an employee and referred to the comments as “wrong.” 

“We believe excellence can come from anywhere…We removed that person’s badge immediately and have cut down on affiliate badges more broadly, keeping it to a smaller group of people that we personally know. To be clear, this person was never a Warp employee,” they wrote.

The startup also announced a revision of its affiliate program, reducing its scope to a smaller, more personally known group of individuals.

Earlier this week in a now-deleted post, Warp CEO Ayush Sharma wrote that “freedom of speech is essential,” and that Warp is “comfortable with taking risks while also being open to feedback.”

When another user suggested this means Warp is comfortable with racism, Sharma replied, “no, talking mainly about all the folks who are like ‘why do you give out warp badge to ppl’ – we are okay with trying/experimenting with all this, and as I said, always open to feedback.”