Keurig's CEO apologizes for 'taking sides' as conservatives smash its machines to defend Sean Hannity

Keurig's CEO apologized to employees for the company's "appearance of 'taking sides'" in a political flap.
On Saturday, the coffee brand announced its decision to stop advertising on Sean Hannity's Fox News show.
Conservatives and fans of Hannity responded by calling for a boycott, and some even posted videos of themselves smashing their Keurig machines.

Keurig's CEO has apologized to employees for "any negativity" they faced because of the brand's announcement on Twitter on Saturday that it would stop running ads during Sean Hannity's Fox News show.

In a memo obtained Monday by The Washington Post's Erik Wemple, CEO Bob Gamgort called Keurig's decision to explain its plan to "pause" its advertising with Hannity's show "highly unusual" and "outside of company protocols."

"This gave the appearance of 'taking sides' in an emotionally charged debate that escalated on Twitter and beyond over the weekend, which was not our intent," Gamgort wrote.

He continued: "Clearly, this is an unacceptable situation that requires an overhaul of our issues response and external communications policies and the introduction of safeguards to ensure this never happens again ... The nature of social media and the internet news environment is that stories like this explode, and generally do not disappear quickly."

On Friday, Hannity aired an interview with Roy Moore, the Republican US Senate candidate in Alabama accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old and pursuing relationships with other teenagers when he was in his 30s.

Many on the right have called for Hannity's supporters to boycott Keurig. On Sunday, some people went as far as posting videos of themselves smashing their Keurig coffee machines.

"I feel bad for Keurig. I recognize the bad spot Hannity put them in by fueling a backlash boycott," Angelo Carusone, whose tweet to Keurig prompted the company to announce its decision to pull its advertising, told Business Insider.

"I am comfortable with them saying what they feel they need to say to help the situation," said Carusone, the president of the left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters. "But at the end of the day, what really matters to me is whether their ads will run. They won't anymore."

Max Tani contributed to this report.