Facebook Exec, Already Under Fire, Hosts Reception for Brett Kavanaugh

Facebook executive Joel Kaplan, already receiving backlash for his support of Brett Kavanaugh, hosted a reception Saturday night to celebrate Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court.

The Washington, D.C., event was organized by Kaplan's wife, Laura Cox Kaplan, and other pro-Kavanaugh women, The Hill reports. About 25 people attended, including Kavanaugh, who was confirmed to the court that day, and his wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh.

Joel Kaplan, Facebook's vice president for global public policy, sat behind Kavanaugh at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing September 27 where Kavanaugh testified in response to Christine Blasey Ford's accusation that he sexually assaulted her while they were in high school. Many Facebook employees were enraged by what they saw as a gesture of tacit support for Kavanaugh, a conservative jurist who is a close friend of Kaplan's. They also saw Kaplan as representing the company.

"I want to apologize," Kaplan wrote to Facebook staffers the day after the hearing, according to The New York Times. "I recognize this moment is a deeply painful one -- internally and externally."

The company has held two meetings to address employees' concerns. At the first meeting, September 28, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Kaplan had not violated any company policy, as employees are free to do what they please outside of work. Kaplan said he took a personal day to be at the hearing, but he did allow that he should have run his decision to attend past his superiors.

Chief operating office Sheryl Sandberg, one of the most prominent female executives in the nation, was critical of Kaplan. "As a woman and someone who cares so deeply about how women are treated, the Kavanaugh issue is deeply upsetting to me," she wrote in an internal message quoted by the Times. She added, "I've talked to Joel about why I think it was a mistake for him to attend given his role in the company."

At the second meeting last Friday, both Zuckerberg and Sandberg said they thought it was a mistake for Kaplan to be at the hearing, Axios reports. Sandberg discussed the seriousness of sexual assault, and Zuckerberg "expressed frustration that Kaplan had put the company in the middle of a political story," while emphasizing that Facebook employees hold diverse political viewpoints, the site reports.

Joel and Laura Kaplan have been friends with the Kavanaughs for 20 years, Joel Kaplan wrote in a message to the employees in his group, according to the Times. "They are my and my wife Laura's closest friends in D.C.," he wrote. "I was in their wedding; he was in ours. Our kids have grown up together." In a later message, he said, "I believe in standing by your friends, especially when times are tough for them."

Kavanaugh's confirmation game by a vote of 50-48, the narrowest margin in many years, after Blasey Ford and two other women accused him of being involved in sexual assault or at least being present when it happened, and an anonymous accuser said she witnessed him shoving a woman against a wall. Kavanaugh has denied all the accusations.