We all know that Silicon Valley–and particularly Facebook–are breeding grounds for easily triggered millennial snowflakes who enjoy stifling free speech.
So, it should come as no surprise that a recent report suggests Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fired a former top executive for his pro-Trump stance.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Palmer Luckey, co-founder of virtual reality company, Oculus, was fired for donating $10,000 to an anti-Hillary Clinton group during the 2016 election–triggering delicate Facebook employees and causing a backlash within the company.
Six months after making the donation, the executive was put on leave and eventually fired from Facebook. Luckey, according to the Journal, has told people he was fired because of his support for Donald Trump.
Internal emails also suggest that the donation and Luckey’s support for Trump were discussed “at the highest levels of the company.” In an attempt to quell the outrage, Facebook executives (including Zuckerberg) allegedly pressured Luckey to publicly support libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
According to one employee on an internal Facebook message board, multiple women had “teared up” in front of him over the news of Luckey’s donation and political affiliations.
In October, Luckey told CNBC that it wasn’t his choice to leave the company. “I can’t talk about it too much, but I’ll say that it wasn’t my choice to leave,” he said.
Luckey, 26, is no stranger to being the odd-man-out in Silicon Valley. The Journal notes that the Oculus co-founder is a fan of “big cars and military gear.” He drove a Humvee with machine-gun mounts and orange toy guns which he was forced to move from the Facebook parking lot after someone reported it to the police. In 2011, Luckey wrote a letter to Donald Trump urging him to run for President.
Since his departure from Facebook, Luckey has become more politically active, and even hosted a fundraiser for Senator Ted Cruz.
