However the ardour of Mr. Tan, as for a rising variety of leaders of the know-how business, is the politics of San Francisco. He's one in every of a cadre of love-it-or-hate-it tech executives and traders with loads of opinions concerning the metropolis and countless piles of money to, as they are saying within the tech business, transfer quick and break issues. (His critics say it's extra like they're attempting to purchase Metropolis Corridor.)
For some in San Francisco's political institution, Mr. Tan, 43, has develop into probably the most annoying in a parade of rich tech executives. He's created a bombastic persona on-line whereas spending about $400,000 on native politics lately — with doubtlessly rather more to return. And on social media website X, the place he has 425,000 followers, Mr. Tan isn't simply rubbing some individuals the incorrect means, he's infuriating them.
Simply after midnight on January 27, he posted on X, first Twitter, that seven left-wing members of the town's Board of Supervisors, listed by identify, ought to “die sluggish,” punctuated by an expletive. It was a refined reference to rap legend Tupac Shakur's well-known tune “Hit 'Em Up,” launched 28 years in the past as an insult to his musical rivals. However to some individuals, it appeared like a risk.
Mr Tan was, he admitted when requested by an X follower, drunk.
A couple of hours after his publish went up, Mr Tan deleted it and apologized. However many individuals had already seen it.
A few days later, some supervisors acquired nameless letters of their houses with the face of Mr. Tan and the phrases: “Garry Tan is true! I need a sluggish and painful dying for you and your family members.” Aaron Peskin, a supervisor who’s contemplating difficult London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, within the November election, was one of some supervisors to file police studies primarily based on Mr. Tan's publish.
