Mahbod Moghadam, co-founder of the popular lyrics site Rap Genius, has resigned from the company's board of directors following controversial comments regarding the manifesto of Santa Barbara gunman Elliot Rodger, according to a report.
Maghadam wrote a series of annotations on a version of Rodger's tome uploaded to Rap Genius, stating that parts were "beautifully written" and saying that he guessed Rodger's sister was "smoking hot."
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The company announced the departure in a blog post on its site.
"In light of this, Mahbod has resigned -- both in his capacity as an employee of the company, and as a member of our board of directors, effective immediately," Tom Lehman, co-founder & CEO of Rap Genius, wrote in the post.
Maghadam posted an apology to Twitter on Monday, although he did not specify the exact reason.
I want to apologize to everyone. I need to hear these criticisms, reflect for real, and work on becoming a better person— Mabode (@mahbodmoghadam) May 26, 2014
Maghadam also released a statement to Valleywag after his comments received widespread attention:
I was fascinated by the fact that a text was associated with such a heartbreaking crime, especially since Elliot is talking about my neighborhood growing up
I got carried away with making the annotations and making any comment about his sister was in horrible taste, thankfully the rap genius community edits out my poor judgement, I am very sorry for writing it
Rap Genius did not immediately respond to a request for comment.