Suspending Christian Horner’s accuser is the worst form of victim blaming

It’s International Women’s Day! And if we all shout loud enough, maybe the people in charge at Red Bull will hear us.

But even if they did, it wouldn’t make a single difference to the employee who was just suspended by the Formula 1 racing team for alleged “dishonesty” in her testimony against team boss Christian Horner.

Her days are clearly numbered. His are not.

Honestly, I don’t know why it took so long. Of course they would suspend her. Of course they would try to silence her. Of course, they’ll probably try to pay them off now. Of course, Red Bull’s smart lawyers will include a clause in her separation agreement that ensures she never speaks to the media about any of this. Naturally.

Meanwhile, happy old Christian Horner keeps his well-paying job and the power and respect that comes with it. And this weekend we’ll watch him striding confidently into the paddock at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (I won’t start with the added irony) while all we can see is the woman who accused him of “inappropriate behavior.” I’m assuming she’s sitting at home, sobbing into her Coco Pops and wondering why everything went so wrong.

Horner told a press conference yesterday that the media attention focused on him in recent weeks had made it a “very stressful time” and “when children, parents, families are involved, it’s not nice”. You probably should have thought about these consequences a few months ago, Christian.

It seems more than ironic that Horner’s wife – Geri Halliwell – former Spice Girl and co-founder of the ‘Girl Power’ movement in the 1990s, should be drawn into a scandal like this. Halliwell is so well known for her work supporting women that she even received an honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University in recognition of her work on women’s rights.

Heartbroken and hurt, I’m sure. But if she wasn’t personally involved in the situation, I wonder if Geri would really want that.

From a PR perspective, this all looks pretty damn terrible. But these situations are – at this point – entirely controlled by lawyers. I can only imagine that when Red Bull’s head of communications heard from lawyers about the employee’s suspension, he frantically thought about how on earth Red Bull can change this so that it doesn’t look like this. The man wins, the woman loses. No amount of PR polish can change that, right?

What exactly was the intended outcome of this woman’s suspension? I can imagine that continued cooperation would have created an impossible and untenable situation for Horner and his accuser. But surely there are other, more viable options? For example, move you to another part of the company? Are you suggesting she take annual leave? I’m not an employment lawyer, but a suspension feels extreme.

Surely suspending her from work should be the absolute last resort? And frankly, Red Bull, it smacks of the worst kind of victim-blaming – a sneaky and very public move that makes it seem like she’s the one who’s completely in the wrong and Horner is the one who’s facing no formal consequences.

Do I need to remind anyone of a similarly public and infamous example of victim blaming to put the next weeks and years of this woman’s life in perspective? One in which the accuser was ostracized and castigated by the media for many years, while the man at the center of the scandal – one President Bill Clinton – maintained his position as leader of the free world after vehemently denying that he had been “sexual.” “to be in relations with this woman, Miss Lewinsky”.

If Christian Horner is indeed looking for light at the end of the tunnel, he should look no further than Clinton’s career since then. In particular, a Gallup poll conducted not long after the event showed record-breaking approval ratings for the way he handled his job as president.

Meanwhile, Monica Lewinsky later described herself as “patient zero” of online shaming in her 2015 TED talk. Lewinsky was a 22-year-old intern in 1998. What happened between her and the most powerful man in the world at the time led to him being indicted but able to preserve his career and reputation as a valued philanthropist, while Lewinsky was held up as an object of public ridicule for the next 20 years. The saga was even humiliatingly named after her – the “Lewinsky Scandal”.

Attitudes have changed in recent years, however, as this sad situation at Red Bull suggests some people haven’t gotten the memo.

This IWD 2024, perhaps we should all shout in unison to the Red Bull bosses: “Have you learned yet?” Nothing?