BP chief executive Tony Hayward, often criticized for being tone-deaf to U.S. concerns about the worst oil spill in American history, took time off Saturday to attend a glitzy yacht race off England's Isle of Wight.
Spokeswoman Sheila Williams said Hayward took a break from overseeing BP efforts to stem the undersea gusher in Gulf of Mexico to watch his boat "Bob" participate in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.
The one-day yacht race is one of the world's largest, attracting hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors.
In a statement, BP described Hayward's day off as "a rare moment of private time" and said that "no matter where he is, he is always in touch with what is happening within BP" and can direct recovery operations if required.
That is likely to be a hard sell in Gulf states struggling to deal with the up to 120 million gallons of oil that have escaped from a blown-out undersea well.The worst environmental disaster in US history, at the worst possible time for the US economy, and the guy responsible is at...a yacht race. An actual. Honest to goodness. Yacht race. Not metaphorical in any way, but an actual race with yachts.
Hayward's done. He may not survive the weekend. Hey BP? Fire his ass. Then fire your PR firm.
The only thing that could put a finer edge on the irony would be if Hayward dined shipboard on fresh shrimp cocktail, oysters Rockefeller, and clams Casino.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I would be more surprised if he didn't. The rich liberal with a conscience that gets a picture of that onto the intertoobs will have won them for a month.