Meet the Ivy League student who is not the sharpest tool in the shed… but is a tool:
A Cornell University student who applied for a summer internship with a Jewish-owned NYC startup rejected the opportunity with a hateful message: ‘Not interested in working for a Jew,” the shocked CEO posted on X.
Austin Franco put his antisemitism on full display when he passed up an interview with VryfID because its co-founders Gabe and Aiden Einhorn are proudly Jewish.
Franco, 19, delivered the message to both brothers via job board site Handshake after applying for a summer role at the company, which pairs renters with landlords and verifies their identities to prevent fraud.
The Einhorns reviewed Franco’s application and he was being considered for an internship with VryfID’s growth team, which is tasked with attracting renters to the company.
“Sad world,” Gabe, 24, wrote on X Monday along with a screenshot of Franco’s jaw-dropping eight-word response to trying to schedule a Zoom call: “Not interested in working for a Jew. Thanks.”
Gabe Einhorn told The Post he felt obligated to share the message to raise awareness of growing antisemitism. He blacked out Franco’s name out of graciousness, but commenters quickly revealed his identity.
“I felt bad exposing him because I thought he could have made a mistake and he really doesn’t believe this wholeheartedly,” Gabe said.
But the Ivy Leaguer soon made it clear that he meant every word of what he wrote.
The student who hails from Virginia doubled down in an X post shared the next day.
“My experiences with Jews have not been pleasant, both in person and online. This is not to say I haven’t had positive experiences, but on the aggregate that is not the case,” Franco wrote.
Cornell — where Franco studies industrial and labor relations, according to his since-deleted LinkedIn profile — is investigating the incident. He sent the disgraceful message on Monday, about a month after Cornell’s semester ended.
“Cornell condemns antisemitism and all forms of hatred and discrimination in the strongest possible terms,” a university spokeswoman told The Post.
Seems that young Austin Franco is trying to emulate his namesake. Not that Franco worked in a fast food restaurant, which is what this nincompoop might find himself doing after this episode.
And as heartwarming as that thought might be for those us who detest antisemites, the fact that when he looks in the mirror he sees this staring back at him might just be better:
For someone so deeply invested in his own prejudice, waking up every day to a reflection that looks like he’s about to ask his parents for bar mitzvah money must be the ultimate, cosmic punchline.
