Tony Fernandes says half-naked pic of him getting massage during work call was to show 'multitasking'

The New Paper
Oct 19, 2023

Air Asia's chief executive officer Tony Fernandes has drawn criticism for posting a half-naked photo of himself getting a massage while on a conference call. 

In a LinkedIn post on Monday (Oct 16), the 59-year-old Malaysian posted a picture of himself seated and shirtless, while a woman massages his left shoulder.

He wrote that it had been "a stressful week". 

"Got to love Indonesia and AirAsia culture that I can have a massage and do a management meeting," he said. 

The post has since been deleted from Mr Fernandes' LinkedIn account.

Reactions on social media were largely critical.

"How is being shirtless with an image like this, while being in a management meeting, called culture?" one user wrote on LinkedIn. "And why does he even find this acceptable to share?! It is appalling."

"I wonder if there was any woman in this management meeting!!" another wrote.

In response to the criticism, Mr Fernandes told news outlet Malaysiakini he was "sorry if anyone took offence". 

He said the moment was during a mini-management meeting and none of the staff present had objected to him getting a massage. 

"One has to understand the work culture of our airline," he said. 

"I wanted to show (with the post) that we can multitask, but it had been taken out of context."

Some CEOs need to stay off LinkedIn pic.twitter.com/O4VAee5IRO

— Anoop Menon (@godsonlymistake) October 17, 2023