Cigar News: Kaizad Hansotia Resigns from Gurkha

Kaizad Hansotia has resigned from Gurkha cigars, effective immediately. The oft politically outspoken Founder, CEO and Chairman came into hot water in recent days to due posts on his social media accounts surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. The company and Kaizad released a statement on social media saying the account had been hacked, but that now appears to not have been the case. The company released this statement:

Due to recent events, Kaizad Hansotia is resigning his position as the Chairman of Gurkha, effective immediately. Jim Colucci will assume the role of CEO and President of the company. Mr. Colucci has been with Gurkha since January 1, 2019 when he assumed full operational control. In addition, once our current packaging inventory is depleted, future packaging will no longer bear the name K. Hansotia. At Gurkha, we believe smoking a cigar should always be an enjoyable and unifying experience.

We are outraged and saddened at the content of previous posts made on Mr. Hansotia’s personal social media accounts. These in no way reflect the position or beliefs of the company, its founding mission or its employees. We stand in solidarity against racism and for racial justice. We cannot and will not tolerate words or acts of hate, injustice or oppression.

We understand that because of the actions of our founder, we must work to regain the trust of our customers and cigar community. We look forward to working toward this goal together.