Down Arrow Button Icon

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Shonda Rhimes moves to Netflix, James Damore pleads his case, and paralegal Heather Heyer is killed while standing up for equality. I’m taking a few days off, so Valentina will be your Broadsheet editor starting tomorrow. Have a peaceful Monday and I’ll be back in your inbox next week.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• Rest in peace, Heather. Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville, Va., this Saturday when a car plowed into a crowd that was protesting the white nationalist rally.

Those who knew Heyer—including her parents and her boss—describe the 32-year-old as someone who cared passionately about the plight of the disenfranchised and was dedicated to doing her part to make the world a better, fairer place. "No mother wants to lose a child, but I’m proud of her,” Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, told the HuffPost. “I’m proud of what she did.”

She was attending the protest with coworkers from the law firm where she worked as a paralegal when she was struck and by the car that James Alex Fields Jr. drove into the crowd. Fields has been charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and failing to stop at the scene of a crash that resulted in a death.

President Trump, meanwhile, has come under heavy criticism for his response to the violence in Charlottesville, which he blamed “on many sides.” The White House attempted to clarify that his condemnation "includes white supremacists, K.K.K. neo-Nazi and all extremist groups," and Ivanka Trump used Twitter to denounce "racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis" (making her the highest-ranking administration official to do so). However, no statement that comes via surrogate can obscure the fact that the president has yet to face the nation and say that white supremacy cannot be tolerated and has no place in our country.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• Suing SoFi. Social Finance, better known as SoFi, is being sued by former employee Brandon Charles, who alleges that he was fired for reporting that female workers at the startup were being harassed by managers. Charles' lawyer says he will file another lawsuit this week claiming broader employee mistreatment and seeking class-action status. SoFi denies all charges. Fortune

• Shonda jumps ship. Shonda Rhimes, the hugely successful TV producer behind Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, has signed a multi-year exclusive agreement with Netflix after a 15-year relationship with Walt Disney’s ABC Studios. Rhimes's move to the streaming service is seen as the latest in a growing battle between Netflix and Disney; last week, the latter announced that it would be launching its own streaming platform. Fortune

• Damore opines—again. Ex-Google engineer James Damore published this op-ed in the WSJ, claiming that his firing "neatly confirms" his claims that Google is an “ideological echo chamber." He goes on to say that the company booted him because, "The mob would have set upon anyone who openly agreed with me or even tolerated my views." You'll have to excuse me for having a particularly hard time with this line on a weekend when an actual mob in Charlottesville used deadly violence to protest diversity. WSJ

• An argument with merit. In another response to the Google memo, the WSJ's Christopher Mims examines the business case for diversity—and explains that there can be no true meritocracy (a favorite tech buzzword) when the vast majority of an industry's arbitrators of merit are white men. WSJ

• Case dismissed. The judge in the Taylor Swift groping case has thrown out the lawsuit by former radio host David Mueller against Swift, ruling that Mueller hadn't proved that she set out to get him fired. However, Mueller's claims against Swift's mother and her radio representative continue, as does the singer's countersuit. Closing arguments are expected today. NPR

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• DeVos 101. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos talks to the AP about sexual assault on college campuses, for-profit schools, and school choice. Fortune

• Not there to make friends. White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman appeared on a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists convention Friday. She caused an uproar after refusing to answer questions about President Trump’s recent remarks encouraging the police to be rougher while arresting criminal suspects—and ended up storming off the stage. New York Times

• Chairman Duke? Wells Fargo is expected to promote Betsy Duke, a former community banker and Fed official, to chair of its board. The bank is in the midst of trying to repair damage caused by widespread sales abuses against customers and other scandals. Reuters

• Vetting the VCs. Bobby Franklin, head of the National Venture Capital Association, says he expects more sexual harassment allegations to emerge from Silicon Valley and that his organization is attempting to study what's gone so wrong in the VC industry. Recode

Share today's Broadsheet with a friend.
Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here.