‘I take drugs myself’: CEO goes on bizarre Christmas party rant to employees on Zoom

Stephen Carter, CEO of a recruiting firm, shared a controversial pep talk during a Christmas party, discussing drug use and infidelity.

An Australian CEO’s bizarre pep talk to staff at a Christmas party has gone viral after he confided in his workers by telling them that he took drugs but didn’t “do it at work events”. CEO of recruiting firm Sharp and Carter, Stephen Carter, was giving a speech to his 203 employees on Zoom ahead of the company's Christmas celebration

Stephen Carter said it was not the first time he had given the speech and had been delivering a version of it for seven years.(YouTube/7newsaustralia)

“I take drugs myself, I just don’t do it at work events,” Carter says in the video. “Because that’s when things get really out of hand. If you take drugs at the Christmas party you will be fired. It’s a really strong rule.”

Advice on infidelity

The CEO even gave advice on infidelity to his employees. “If you want to cheat on your partner I would recommend 2024 has been a stark reminder it is probably not wise to cheat on your partner with someone at work,” he said, adding that "if you have to" cheat, do it but not with someone at work.

“If you are single we have got lots of people who have met their partner here," he said.

After a video of the speech went viral online, Carter was interviewed by the Herald Sun, and asked to explain his motivation for the speech.

He said it was not the first time he had given the speech and had been delivering a version of the same speech for seven years. However, he added that he probably would have chosen his words more carefully if he had known the speech would end up on social media.

Trying to ‘look after’ staff

“Obviously I didn’t expect it to get sent externally,” he said. "But regarding the content, I haven’t been exposed for sexually harassing dozens of staff, or caught in a compromising position or passed out in a ditch, the intention obviously is to look after and care for my people so they don’t do damage to themselves and others.

He added that people take drugs or cheat on their partner and he was trying to get ahead of that. "I don’t want to clean up their mess afterwards. It’s nothing specific to my business more than any other business," he said

Carter added that he hadn’t done drugs for “about five years” and the workplace isn’t the place to do that “It’s to do with friends in a social setting. Go and have drugs tomorrow for all I care, but don’t do it at the Christmas party or at work.