Five women are reportedly suing Monster Energy over what they call an abusive, discriminatory culture, according to a story in the Huffington Post.
The women’s lawsuits and personal stories paint a detailed and disturbing picture of what systemic sex discrimination does to women’s lives and careers. Women at Monster allege that they were punished for speaking up, saying their professional reputations were tarnished and careers derailed. Egregious behavior by mainly male executives went without consequence.
Monster reportedly states that the “cases are without merit and had nothing to do with sex discrimination, and characterized the women who filed the suits as “disgruntled employees.” For the rest of the story, click the link.
It’s not SuperCross, but still another win for Shaun Palmer at the 9th Annual Monster Energy MX Crossover at Sacramento, California’s world famous Hangtown track.
Palmer, who’s backed by Monster Energy for his snowboard racing, was dominant in both motos at the pro MX track just outside Sacramento, pulling the holeshot and winning the opening moto, then tracking down BMXer Aaron Cooke (who holeshot the second moto) early and cruising to a seemingly effortless 1-1 finish against a field . . . which included Chris Roach, Matt Goodwill and Jim Moran . . . down to literally beginner MX racers like Monster Energy’s own Nate Holland (four-time Winter X Boardercross gold medalist) and U.S. Open snowboard great Tyler Emond.
No surprise. We’re just glad to see him sticking in with his winning ways. [Link: Dirt Rider]
While we’re blown away (with the rest of you) by how fast our world can change, and have little wisdom and no panacea for the current time, here is a short collection of news stories that have caught our attention over the past month or so. Follow the jump for the full list.
Can you think of anything worse than selling your soul and then not getting paid? That’s the position 2John Florence has put himself in according to a lawsuit he filed against Monster Energy in May of 2018, according to a story in the New York Post.
According to the 26-year-old Florence. . . he and Monster cut a three-year marketing deal beginning in January 2017. . . Under the deal, Florence . . . agreed to promote Monster drinks for $350,000 a year plus $150,000 toward a marketing production that recounted his pursuit of his world surfing title, court records show. . . Nevertheless, Monster “has refused to pay any amount whatsoever under the 2017 agreement,” according to the suit, which has managed to stay under the media radar despite getting filed in California state court in May.
Monster claims that Florence hid “material facts” from the company during those contract negotiations. Florence says his dealings with Monster have been a series of broken promises and last minute changes to his contract. And, yeah, $350,000 in missing money is a pretty big deal. We hope 2John has learned his lesson when it comes to energy drinks–especially a brand with copious lawsuit experience.
Sidetone: if you’re in the Inland Empire today (November 14, 2018) you can stop by the Riverside, California superior courthouse and drop in on a conference hearing between the lawyers.
The Street League Skateboarding (SLS) Nike SB World Tour landed at USC’s Galen Center in Los Angeles on Friday September 15, 2017, with Nyjah Huston and Lacey Baker taking the wins. On the men’s side Shane O’Neill and Kelvin Hoefler finished second and third. For the official word from the SLS, including results, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
One thing the crew at Hookit/Sponsorhouse have done well for nearly two decades is pivot. Each time the digital winds have shifted, they’ve steered their technology into position to make the most of those changes. It’s uncanny, really. And according to today’s news they’re gaining even more traction.
Hookit announced today it has raised $16M in growth capital (led by Santa Monica, CA-based growth equity firm Arrowroot Capital) to continue fueling its meteoric growth in the new media, data-driven and insight focused sports sponsorship analytics space – an industry and approach the company pioneered nearly five years ago.
What is it they do? Well, in the current iteration Hookit measures “sponsorship value” in social media so brands can check their ROI on money they spend on athletes, teams, leagues, venues and events. It’s all about the metrics, man. For the official word from Hookit, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The 2017 Street League Skateboarding season kicked off last weekend in Barcelona, Spain with the third annual SLS Nike SB Pro Open and in no real surprise Nyjah Huston edged Shane O’Neill to take the title.
Hitting all obstacles on the course, Nike SB Pro Nyjah Huston was performing as stong as ever, earning a score of 8.7 with a Backside 5.0 Grind along the round flat bar and into the small quarterpipe, a 360 Flip over the wedge gap, a Kickflip Backside Disaster on the quarterpipe, a Nosegrind Revert along the round flat bar and back to a Crooked Grind along the same, a Backside 180 Nosegrind on the volcano ledge, a perfect Backside 360 Kickflip over the wedge gap, and a Switch Nollie Nosegrind down the handrail.
In other news, Yuto Horigome and Dashawn Jordan are now on the 2017 SLS Nike SB World Tour. Congrats to Dashawn, he’s been hard at it for awhile now. For all the details on Barcelona as well as news and dates for the rest of the tour, please follow the jump.
It’s still going. Large crowds still show up at the bottom of the halfpipe and Chloe Kim and Shaun White are still winning the US Open of Snowboarding. In other words, not much has changed at Burton’s long running snowboard activation at Vail, Colorado.
Shaun White came ready with an arsenal of tricks to defend his title against a packed field of contenders. White says, “I wanted to come out of the gate swinging. I knew everyone was going to be going for their hardest runs. I had to step it up.” And step it up he did, White put down his most progressive run ever posting a score of 92.74, winning with a nearly 10-point lead. His run started off with a lofty backside air, into a frontside double cork 1080 stalefish, upping the ante with a Cab double cork 1440 mute, into a frontside 540 stalefish, a backside double McTwist, and ending with a frontside 900 tail. This is the first time in competition that White has landed his Cab double cork 1440 followed by a double McTwist 1260 in what was a history-making halfpipe run at the final event of the 35th annual Burton U.S. Open.
Yeah, dog. For the official word from Burton Snowboards, please follow the jump.
After watching Luan Oliveira over-kill the 2015 Tampa Pro we’re seriously wondering if there will ever be a better display of technical contest skateboarding, ever. Not only did Oliveira hit every single thing he tried in his final runs, he kept going long after his time was up with five or six more makes before a miss. In fact, in his winning run he went 20 tricks deep before a falter. It was mind-blowing.
Sure, Nyjah Huston, who finished in second, gave it a solid go with his practiced precision, but Oliveira’s threw everything he had at it and he didn’t miss. Watch the video and you’ll see. For the complete results, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
