Y Combinator has quietly cut ties with Peter Thiel

Startup accelerator Y Combinator has parted ways with Peter Thiel, where he served as a part-time adviser since 2015. The company did not specify why the two have cut ties; a short statement at the top of a Y Combinator blog post introducing and welcoming Thiel two years ago reads “Peter Thiel is no longer affiliated with Y Combinator.“

The news comes a little over a year after Y Combinator was criticized for keeping Thiel on as an adviser following the VC’s public support of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. At the time, Y Combinator president Sam Altman defended keeping Thiel onboard, tweeting that he was “not going to fire someone for supporting a major party nominee,” and that although they disagree politically, “Diversity of opinion is painful but critical to the health of a democratic society.”

Neither Thiel nor Y Combinator has responded to the press’s request for comment, though Buzzfeed reports that the part-time adviser program that Thiel had been a part of was shut down last year. At the time Thiel joined Y Combinator, other part-time advisers included Groupon’s Andrew Mason, Stripe’s Patrick Collison, and Homejoy’s Adora Cheung.