A Cornell College scholar who utilized for a summer season internship with a Jewish-owned NYC startup rejected the chance with a hateful message: ‘Not involved in working for a Jew,” the shocked CEO posted on X.
Austin Franco put his antisemitism on full show when he handed up an interview with VryfID as a result of its co-founders Gabe and Aiden Einhorn are proudly Jewish.
Franco, 19, delivered the message to each brothers by way of job board website Handshake after making use of for a summer season function on the firm, which pairs renters with landlords and verifies their identities to stop fraud.
The Einhorns reviewed Franco’s software and he was being thought of for an internship with VryfID’s development crew, which is tasked with attracting renters to the corporate.
“Unhappy world,” Gabe, 24, wrote on X Monday together with a screenshot of Franco’s jaw-dropping eight-word response to making an attempt to schedule a Zoom name: “Not involved in working for a Jew. Thanks.”
Gabe Einhorn instructed The Put up he felt obligated to share the message to boost consciousness of rising antisemitism. He blacked out Franco’s identify out of graciousness, however commenters rapidly revealed his id.
“I felt unhealthy exposing him as a result of I believed he may have made a mistake and he actually doesn’t consider this wholeheartedly,” Gabe mentioned.
However the ivy leaguer quickly made it clear that he meant each phrase of what he wrote.
The coed who hails from Virginia doubled down in an X publish shared the following day.
“My experiences with Jews haven’t been nice, each in individual and on-line. This isn’t to say I haven’t had constructive experiences, however on the combination that’s not the case,” Franco wrote.
Cornell — the place Franco research industrial and labor relations, in line with his since-deleted LinkedIn profile — is investigating the incident. He despatched the disgraceful message on Monday, a couple of month after Cornell’s semester ended.
“Cornell condemns antisemitism and all types of hatred and discrimination within the strongest potential phrases,” a college spokeswoman instructed The Put up.
Gabe and his youthful brother Aiden, a 22-year-old NYU enterprise scholar, launched VryfID in the summertime of 2025.
“As an alternative of renters struggling to seek for residences and getting rejected, we now have them enroll, pay $20 to get verified. Then we really carry them residences that they really qualify for,” Gabe defined to The Put up.
“For landlords, it helps them refill their models and brings them the fitting tenants.”
Other than content material centered across the NYC rental market, Gabe, who wears a kippah, usually speaks about his religion throughout his rising social media platforms.
“I’ve seen some horrible issues throughout the board — antisemitic issues and simply horrible issues usually,” Gabe mentioned, including that he had about 5 dying threats simply on Fb the final time he checked.
“Individuals identical to to unfold hate throughout social media as a result of they’re nameless and so they don’t have any repercussions.”
The hateful message has left the brothers surprised.
“Me and my brother type of checked out one another like, ‘What?’ We by no means actually skilled [antisemitism] this immediately,” Gabe mentioned.
“The entire thing was simply very stunning and uncalled for.”
Franco didn’t return requests for remark. His father, Alexander, a patent legal professional, declined to remark.
