Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank said the company was “saddened” by the violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., but remained mum about President Donald J. Trump’s advisory jobs panel after another CEO resigned in protest.
Earlier Monday, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier said he was leaving the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative committee, citing the president's failure to explicitly denounce those groups that marched in the rally.
“I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism,” said Frazier, calling on America’s leaders — including Trump — to clearly reject “expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.”
In January, Frazier and Plank were named to the 28-member panel established by the White House to promote job growth.
Appearing later Monday, Trump labeled members of the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who participate in violence as "criminals and thugs."
Nineteen people were injured and a woman was killed when a car plowed into counter-protesters. Another dozen or so people were injured in clashes between white nationalists and counter-protesters and two state troopers were killed when their helicopter, which was monitoring the rally, crashed.
“We are saddened by #Charlottesville,” Plank said on Under Armour’s Twitter account. “There is no place for racism or discrimination in this world. We choose love & unity.”
Spokespersons for Plank and Under Armour did not return calls or messages on whether the CEO would remain on the panel.
By mid-afternoon on Monday, a few hundred people had responded to Plank’s message on Twitter, many of them urging him to quit the advisory group.
“Please keep us loyal to your brand by resigning from Trump's board,” wrote one.
Another tweeter, Charles H. Bryan of Gladwin, Mich., wrote to Plank: “You're in a position to send a real message to President Trump. You should do so.”
In response to a question from the Baltimore Sun, Bryan added that each of the company CEOs who are part of the advisory panel should withdraw “as a show of solidarity” with Frazier.
The social media debate echoed one Under Armour faced in February after Plank was asked about Trump during a televised interview. Plank, who has contributed in the past both to Republican and Democratic elected officials in federal and state posts, told CNBC that having "such a pro-business president is something that's a real asset to this country."
A number of celebrity Under Armour endorsers — including basketball star Stephen Curry and ballerina Misty Copeland — released statements saying they did not agree with Plank’s assessment.
"We engage in policy, not politics," Under Armour said at the time.
Trump was quick to rebuke Frazier on Monday, lashing out on Twitter that the pharmaceuticals company CEO will now “have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!”
With the barb, Trump appeared to attack an industry executive who has tried to make drug pricing somewhat more transparent by revealing his company's overall drug price changes.
Frazier is one of the few African-Americans to head a Fortune 500 company.
Others on the White House manufacturing council include top executives from Boeing, Dell Technologies, Dow Chemical and Johnson & Johnson.
Like Plank, the other CEOs faced calls on social media Monday to resign, but none did.
Dow CEO Andrew Liveris issued a statement condemning the violence in Charlottesville and saying the company “will continue to work to strengthen the social and economic fabric of the communities where it operates — including supporting policies that help create employment opportunities in manufacturing and rebuild the American workforce."
Another panel member, Brian Krzanich of Intel, tweeted: “There should be no hesitation in condemning hate speech or white supremacy by name.”
In February, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick left the advisory group and said his participation had not meant that he favored the president's policies.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, resigned from the council and two other presidential advisory groups in June after Trump vowed to exit the Paris climate agreement. Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger resigned for the same reason from the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, which Trump established to advise him on how government policy impacts economic growth and job creation.
William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said he couldn't “think of a parallel example” of any president responding as viciously as Trump did to a CEO departing an advisory council.
“Usually, certain niceties are observed to smooth over a rupture,” said Galston, who served as a domestic policy aide in the Clinton administration.
“We've learned that as president, Mr. Trump is behaving exactly as he did as a candidate,” Galston said. “He knows only one mode: When attacked, hit back harder.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CAPTION As Under Armour transitions to Port Covington, the company strives to broaden its brand beyond football. As Under Armour transitions to Port Covington, the company strives to broaden its brand beyond football. CAPTION Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank will step back from his role of president in a series of management changes announced Tuesday. Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank will step back from his role of president in a series of management changes announced Tuesday.
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