EXCLUSIVE: 'He's become the Darth Vader of social media.' Fired CEO of Parler wanted to be next Bill Gates, wasn't 'team player' and admired alt-right blogger who said men should travel to Eastern Europe to find subservient girlfriends, former boss reveals
The ex-CEO of controversial conservative app Parler wanted to be the next Bill Gates but became the 'Darth Vader of social media' said the man who gave John Matze one of his first positions in tech.
George Tu, 52, described the Parler founder, 27, as a fiercely ambitious young programmer who was largely non-political before falling in with wealthy Republicans, for whom he reportedly built websites.
Matze was fired this week, just weeks after the conservative social media site was shut down over violent and incendiary posts about the Capitol siege.
Tu also claimed that Matze discussed the work of Roosh V, a controversial blogger linked to the alt-right who has been slammed for his misogynistic writings including advising American men to travel to Eastern Europe to find subservient girlfriends.
Matze hit headlines after his social media app Parler was effectively shut down when Google and Apple removed it from their app stores and Amazon refused to host it on its servers for reportedly not doing enough to remove posts inciting violence from its users.
Matze founded Parler in 2018 and the app, known as 'Twitter for conservatives' quickly became popular with Trump supporters.
Parler's ex-CEO John Matze, 27, wanted to be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerburg, according to George Tu, who gave Matze one of his first positions in tech
According to Tu, Matze discussed the work of Roosh V (pictured), a controversial blogger linked to the alt-right who has been slammed for his misogynistic writings including advising American men to travel to Eastern Europe to find subservient girlfriends
Matze founded Parler in 2018 and the app, known as 'Twitter for conservatives' quickly became popular with Trump supporters
Tu said he first met Matze on a plane to Denver, Colorado in 2013, while Matze was still a computer science student at the University of Denver.
Tu was so impressed by Matze's knowledge and enthusiasm for tech that two years later he offered him the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the startup he was forming in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tu, now the CEO of a tech startup called Zuzu.io, described Matze as a talented programmer who wasn't much of a team player.
George Tu (pictured) described the Parler founder as a fiercely ambitious young programmer
'His ambitions were just like anybody who wanted to be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerburg,' he said.
'He wanted to disrupt the industry and the vertical he was in.
'He wasn't much of a team player - he harbored a lot of his own ambitions and he wasn't very forthright.
'It's really sad that Parler has become this platform where people are espousing violence.
'Google, Amazon, Apple - John has managed to p*** everybody off. He's literally become the Darth Vader of social media.'
He added that Matze always struck him as apolitical until he began socializing with rich Republicans and building websites that attracted them in droves.
'He never really talked about politics. I was surprised to see him become this libertarian, free speech person.
'But he had a relative in Vegas who introduced him to these very wealthy, conservative, right-wing GOP people who invited him to mansions in Florida and he worked on their websites.
Matze hit headlines last week after his social media app Parler was effectively shut down when Google and Apple removed it from their app stores and Amazon refused to host it on its servers for reportedly not doing enough to remove posts inciting violence from its users
Tu said he first met Matze on a plane to Denver, Colorado in 2013, while Matze was still a computer science student at the University of Denver. Tu shared Matze's 2015 resume in which he described himself as a software engineer who enjoys golf, motorcycles and snowboarding and listed upmarket ski destination Vail as his favorite resort
Tu provided emails that indicate Matze's involvement in the short-lived project
Tu was so impressed by Matze's knowledge and enthusiasm for tech that two years later he offered him the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the startup he was forming in Las Vegas, Nevada
'He was aghast at the luxury lifestyle he saw there. It was very different from how I knew him.
'He lived with his best friend Jared Thomson [the cofounder of Parler] in an apartment, which was nothing to brag about.'
Tu claimed Matze was fascinated by the work of Roosh V, a blogger and former pickup artist connected with the alt right who has been slammed for his misogynistic writings.
He had went on the record advocating for women to be banned from voting, describing a woman's value as dependent on her 'fertility and beauty', and stating that women with eating disorders make the best girlfriends.
Roosh V has been accused of anti-Semitism and promoting rape in his blog posts and books - his first book was published in 2007 and titled Bang: The Pickup Bible That Helps You Get More Lays.
DailyMail.com photographed the blogger back in 2016, revealing he was living in his mother's basement.
Tu said: 'On the plane when we met, John mentioned Roosh V, this blogger who gained notoriety on the internet for encouraging men to travel to eastern European countries to get into relationships with the women there.
'The idea was that men could be the old-fashioned patriarch in their relationships. John was fascinated by it.
'And I always wondered whether that was one of the things that drew John to Russia.
'He was obsessed with Russia and he traveled there extensively. John's type was always Russian women.
'I did meet a girlfriend in late 2015 who was Russian. I don't know if it was Alina, his current wife.
'I can't remember what the woman said her name was, it was a long time ago.'
Tu said Matze 'was obsessed with Russia and he traveled there extensively. John's type was always Russian women.' He added: 'I did meet a girlfriend in late 2015 who was Russian. I don't know if it was Alina, his current wife. 'I can't remember what the woman said her name was, it was a long time ago.' Pictured: Matze with his wife Alina and their child
DailyMail.com photographed the blogger back in 2016, revealing he was living in his mother's basement.
Supporters loyal to President Donald Trump clash with authorities before successfully breaching the Capitol building during a riot on the grounds
Matze reportedly married Russian Alina Mukhutdinova after meeting her on her two week road trip around the United States.
Tu said he immediately spotted Matze's talent when they met on the plane.
'We just really hit it off, we were just two nerds talking,' Tu said.
'I found him to be fascinating and intelligent. I went back to him and I recruited him as part of my tech startup.'
The startup, which never got off the ground, was intended to help companies handle their customer service using text messaging.
Tu provided emails that indicate Matze's involvement in the short-lived project as well as sharing Matze's 2015 resume in which he described himself as a software engineer who enjoys golf, motorcycles and snowboarding and listed upmarket ski destination Vail as his favorite resort.
In one email, Matze listed 12 apps he wanted to build including an employee tracker app which would allow employers to track their workers' locations using GPS.
Just three years later Matze went on to form Parler, a social media site that, up until recently, had around 10 million users.
'It was an incredible, stellar rise,' said Tu. 'His trajectory was unbelievable.'
Tu reached out to his old friend last year but said Matze never responded to his email, saying: 'I guess he got too big to reach out to his past colleagues and old friends.'
Although Matze has questioned whether Parler will ever return online, Tu insisted that Matze will bounce back.
'He's very resilient. I'm sure he'll bounce back from this.'
