John Carmack reflecting on the firing of Palmer Luckey | Hacker News Reader

John Carmack reflecting on the firing of Palmer Luckey

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26 pointsdrak0n1c14 comments

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What is the background on this?

Apparently he was fired for paying ten grand for a pro-Trump billboard back in 2016.

Which Zuckerberg denied in his testimony in front of Congress.

And which others have also said wasn't the reason.

It was to do with Luckey not really being much of a team player which sounds very plausible.

I dont know whats more laughable. The idea that Zucky can be honest, or that Congress will pursue - even blatant (see Clapper) - perjury charges.

There was also the ZeniMax v Facebook trial and $500m judgement: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeniMax_v._Oculus

But of course it sounds way more sinister if you tie his political donations to it.

Not easy to make the connection to Palmer being fired here. The case was decided much later and it equally involve John Carmack, who stayed at Meta much longer, until he left out of his own accord.

Selections from his Wikipedia page:

> In September 2016, it was reported that Luckey had donated $10,000 to Nimble America, a pro-Donald Trump group that ran a billboard depicting 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with the caption "Too Big to Jail"

> The Facebook Near-Billionaire Secretly Funding Trump’s Meme Machine

https://www.thedailybeast.com/palmer-luckey-the-facebook-nea...

> September 2016 … Luckey offered to match further contributions from r/The_Donald users for 48 hours after the announcement. Luckey later issued an apology, stating on his Facebook page, "I am deeply sorry that my actions are negatively impacting the perception of Oculus and its partners."

> Facebook executives, including Zuckerberg, reportedly pressured Luckey to publicly voice support for libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, despite his support for then Republican nominee Donald Trump.

> After his firing, Luckey hired an employment lawyer, and together negotiated a payout of at least $100 million, arguing that the company had violated California law for allegedly pressuring the executive to voice support for Johnson and for punishing an employee for political activity.

> Facebook likewise denied Luckey had been fired for supporting Trump, stating "We can say unequivocally that Palmer's departure was not due to his political views."

I wonder how he feels about Trump now.

Seems more likely it was because he cost Facebook $500 million because of IP theft: https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-real-reason-palmer-luckey-...

That’s FB’s position for sure

Are there examples of people who have done this and kept their job?

No idea, but:

> Luckey hired an employment lawyer, and together negotiated a payout of at least $100 million, arguing that the company had violated California law for allegedly pressuring the executive to voice support for Johnson and for punishing an employee for political activity

I'm yet to get anyone to pay me $100m for any reason whatsoever.

Meh. Luckey would have anyways left Facebook the second his lock up (a standard 2 years I'm assuming) expired. Instead he was fired a few months before that and negotiated a huge settlement for himself. So if anything he should be thanking Carmack for not intervening.

That cold comfort for Carmack who feels like he did a cowardly thing.

I know that feeling. A prof at grad school got kicked out for BS reasons and I didn't speak out or give her words of support.

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