Speaking at an investors conference in New York, the billionaire real estate magnate patted himself on the back for his enlightenment on gender issues. “I never promoted a woman because she was a woman,” Zell boasted. “I never demoted a woman because she was a woman. My issue is what do you do, what do you produce, how do you interrelate to the rest of the business.”
Then, as Bloomberg reports, Zell went a little farther. “I don’t think there’s ever been a, ‘We gotta get more pussy on the block, OK?’” He spluttered, before realizing he might have made a mistake. “Those things can get me in trouble, right?”
In the age of Donald Trump and Samantha Bee, Zell’s words shouldn’t really be a concern. What he deserves criticism for is the underlying attitude behind those words, a combination of thinking he’s someone who treats women fairly while also seeing them in terms of their genitalia.