Keurig CEO Bob Gamgort on Monday apologized to employees for any negative attention that may have come after the company publicly announced on Twitter that it was no longer running ads on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News — a move that led to Hannity fans smashing their Keurig coffee machines en masse.
“The decision to publicly communicate our programming decision via our Twitter account was highly unusual,” Gamgort said in a memo reported by The Washington Post. “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.”
“I apologize for any negativity that you have experienced as a result of this situation and assure you that we will learn and improve going forward,” Gamgort added.
The initial Keurig tweet issued Saturday came after Hannity interviewed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore and suggested that Moore, who has denied accusations of sexual misconduct with multiple minors, “deserves the presumption of innocence” and that “none of us know the truth.”
“We worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show,” Keurig said on Twitter in response to criticism that it was advertising on a show whose host seemed to be backing an accused pedophile.
Angelo, thank you for your concern and for bringing this to our attention. We worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show.
— Keurig (@Keurig) November 11, 2017
That led to a quick backlash from Hannity’s conservative fans.
#BoycottKeurig I will not buy your products any more after you pulling your ads on @seanhannity Bye.
— Mr. Tater Head (@bigandloud22) November 13, 2017
Before long Hannity fans were smashing their Keurig machines and posting videos of the destruction on Twitter with the hashtag #BoycottKeurig.
Happily tossed the Keurig this morning:). #BoycottKeurig#MAGA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/cIyCNBifT0
— Diane 💖✨☀️🙏🏻 (@DianeJ64) November 13, 2017
Hannity, for his part, seemed to throw cold water on the social media protest on Monday, telling his supporters to “hold their fire.”
Sean Hannity tells supporters to "hold their fire" on smashing Keurig products. Said: "In my opinion, Keurig was a victim of a group that has a radical agenda, and they didn't know. I'm convinced." (Hannity has 5 Keurig machines, he said.)
— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) November 13, 2017