Zuckerberg: Facebook did not fire Palmer Luckey over political views

Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg is facing a barrage of questions as he testifies before the United States Senate today. One of those questions came from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who asked Zuckerberg why Facebook fired Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey. Many consider Luckey instrumental in revitalizing interest in virtual reality, but he attracted scrutiny over his support of a pro-Donald Trump political group that allegedly involved white supremacists and disgraced troll and Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopolous. Luckey has also hosted a fundraiser for Ted Cruz in the past.

Luckey apologized for financially sponsoring the group in September 2016, but Facebook fired him the following March. That termination came after a Californian limited-liability corporation called Wings of Time gave $100,000 to Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration fund. Luckey confirmed on Twitter that he owned the company. In March, Facebook and Luckey confirmed that they split, but neither shared many details.