Uber can't avoid controversy, no matter how hard (or not) it
tries.On Thursday evening, during a taping of "The Late ShowWith Stephen Colbert," Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was readyfor, perhaps, a little banter.
Instead, reporters who were in the audience say that he wasinterrupted by a heckler who insisted that Uber represented a pestilence upon the New York taxi world. (I paraphrase
slightly.)BuzzFeed editor Rachel Zarrell, for example, tweeted: "At
Colbert, audience member started protesting the Uber CEO.
Amazing how Colbert just let him speak."
Business Insider said that several of its reporters were at the taping and alleged that during Kalanick's back and forth
with Colbert at least one protester shouted from an upper balcony. According to Business Insider, Colbert let one objector have his say before insisting he was going to ask a
question about the same issue regarding New York's taxi
industry.Kalanick appears not to have been disturbed by the protest.
Zarrell tweeted : "A thing I was very impressed with today
during Colbert's interview w Uber CEO is he never loses
control -- it's clear the convo is always his."
She added: "And he's OK with tough questions. Like, is it for
the good of humans to have surge pricing on during a
crisis? (Which they have)."
Uber wasn't immediately available for comment.
In the clip posted by CBS , the protests don't appear.
Uber has encountered much opposition around the world,
not least in New York. There have been concerns about its
surge pricing , even among Uber drivers. The mayor of New
York, Bill de Blasio has said he'd like to limit the number of
Uber cars in the city .
There might be more headaches if courts continue to
uphold the notion that Uber drivers are employees of the
company .
Kalanick, however, defended his company like this: "Let's
just take New York, for example. A taxi driver spends
$40,000 a year renting a car . That should be a Bentley
you're riding around in. But instead it goes to a taxi owner
who owns the license."
In contrast, he said, Uber drivers own their cars, earn more
per hour and can work whenever they want. He also
defended surge pricing, though he said that during genuine
emergencies Uber suspends the practice.
He also revealed that he drives an Uber himself sometimes.
Just for fun, you understand. And of course he has a 5.0
rating. Allegedly. He won't be able to do that for too much
longer as he said Google, Apple and Tesla are all heading
toward the self-driving world and that is simply the future.
To my eyes and ears, Kalanick didn't seem entirely
comfortable. A touch nervous, in fact. In the past, he's
generally espoused a very brash attitude. This isn't easy (or
wise) to do with someone as accomplished as Colbert.
Uber has espoused a "So what? We don't care" stance from
its inception. It seemed to challenge laws by simply moving
into cities and then counting on the usefulness of its service
to get laws ultimately changed. Its aggressiveness reached
its height when a senior company executive was heard to
suggest Uber would dig up dirt on journalists to quiet them.
Uber investor Ashton Kutcher came out in support of Uber's
stance.
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