Netflix CEO Reed Hastings reportedly criticized tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel for supporting President Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
The two magnates are forced to collaborate and work together, as both Hastings and Thiel are members of Facebook’s board of directors. Hastings gave Thiel a bad grade during a review of Facebook directors in August of last year, according to The New York Times, equating his support of Trump as “bad judgment.”
“I see our board being about great judgment, particularly in unlikely disaster where we have to pick new leaders,” Hastings wrote in the email to Thiel, obtained by TheNYT. “I’m so mystified by your endorsement of Trump for our President, that for me it moves from ‘different judgment’ to ‘bad judgment.'”
Thiel, one of the world’s most prominent venture capitalists and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, announced in October he would donate $1.25 million to Trump, then-Republican presidential nominee. Roughly a couple weeks later, he spoke at a press conference in Washington, D.C., to double down on his endorsement of Trump and defend his donation.
“I am proud to be gay, I am proud to be a Republican but most of all I am proud to be an American,” Thiel said in a speech at the Republican National Convention. The crowd erupted in applause, potentially showing a growing shift in the party’s views on sexuality.
Apparently such actions offended Hastings, a Clinton campaign supporter.
“Some diversity in views is healthy,” Hastings said, “but catastrophically bad judgment (in my view) is not what anyone wants in a fellow board member.” (RELATED: Immigrant-Rich Tech Industry Responds To Trump’s Immigration Ban)
Facebook’s leadership hasn’t always been so kind to internal Trump advocates. Palmer Luckey, a 24-year-old tech prodigy who founded a virtual-reality start-up purchased by Facebook, was allegedly pushed out of the company for supporting Trump. He bestowed Trump’s official inauguration committee with $100,000 through a liability company, and also funded a nonprofit infamous for creating anti-Hillary Clinton memes.
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