KEURIG BACKING DOWN: Coffee Company Admits Public Decision To Pull Ads From Hannity Created ‘Unacceptable Situation’

On Monday, Keurig CEO Bob Gamgort issued a memorandum to employees denouncing his own company’s Twitter announcement that it had pulled advertising from Sean Hannity’s television program on Fox News. That advertising pullout came in the wake of an astroturfed campaign from Media Matters based on false allegations that Hannity expressed support for child molestation and had attacked sexual assault accusers.

The pullout led to a massive backlash on Twitter, where Keurig owners began smashing their machines and announcing that they would boycott the company.

Finally, Gamgort responded thusly:

Gamgort acknowledged that normally they would “pause” advertising on a program and re-evaluate later, but stated, “the decision to publicly communicate our programming decision via our Twitter account was highly unusual. 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 intention.” He called the tweets “outside of company protocols.”

Gamgort did not say they would reinstate advertising with Hannity, but his acknowledgement that the outside blowback has created an effect inside the company will surely encourage more conservatives to continue to pressure the company for its politicization.