Facebook employees are reportedly in the midst of a weeklong meltdown after Joel Kaplan, vice president for global policy, sat behind Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during Kavanaugh’s Sept. 27 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Hundreds of Facebook employees expressed their displeasure with Kaplan since Kavanaugh’s testimony, according to reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter.
“His seat choice was intentional, knowing full well that journalists would identify every public figure appearing behind Kavanaugh. He knew that this would cause outrage internally, but he knew that he couldn’t get fired for it,” one Facebook program manager wrote about Kavanaugh, according to The New York Times.
“This was a protest against our culture, and a slap in the face to his fellow employees,” the program manager wrote.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sparked further backlash by informing employees that Kaplan hadn’t broken any rules by supporting Kavanaugh in his personal time, both papers reported.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg also criticized Kaplan for attending the hearing.
“As a woman and someone who cares so deeply about how women are treated, the Kavanaugh issue is deeply upsetting to me. I’ve talked to Joel about why I think it was a mistake for him to attend given his role in the company,” Sandberg wrote in an internal post, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“We support people’s right to do what they want in their personal time but this was by no means a straight-forward case,” Sandberg wrote.
Sandberg endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign and shared her personal research with the Clinton campaign.
“Our leadership team recognizes that they’ve made mistakes handling the events of the last week and we’re grateful for all the feedback from our employees,” a Facebook spokesperson told The New York Times.
The company is reportedly addressing the Kaplan controversy in a town hall on Friday.
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