Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently stirred a controversy by making jokes about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surveilling international workers. As per reports, during an internal meeting Benioff asked employees who had traveled from outside the US to stand up—then quipped that ICE agents were in the building keeping tabs on them. The joke then angered some Salesforce employees. Now, Salesforce founder Parker Harris has condemned the joke saying he was “not OK with it,” Business Insider reports.“Marc made a very bad joke,” Harris, said adding “But that’s something that Marc did, and I’m not gonna call him out in public out on the internet.” He said that Salesforce is “not a political organization” and encouraged employees to make their views known at the ballot box.”

‘Please keep it confidential’: Salesforce founder

“I’m going to use my democratic right to vote, and that’s how I’m gonna take action against some of the things that I’m not okay with,” he said.“So that’s my statement. It may not make you feel better. So I’m sorry if it doesn’t make you feel better. I think we should keep talking about it. I’m totally fine talking about it more. Please keep it confidential.”Parker Harris reportedly held a meeting with product and tech team last week where he addressed a question about why many company leaders had not responded to Benioff’s comments. “So I’ll start by saying that somebody already has, and it was immediately leaked,” Harris said, referring to a Business Insider story about another executive who criticized Benioff’s jokes.. “Let’s talk about it with each other and not out to Business Insider and other places because it doesn’t do us any good,” he said, adding, “It’s a violation of the Code of Conduct, and it’s a fireable offense. And if we do catch you, we will fire you.“

Marc Benioff’s ICE joke that angered employees

During his opening keynote at Salesforce’s annual Company Kickoff last week, Benioff asked employees who had traveled from outside the US to stand up—then quipped that ICE agents were in the building keeping tabs on them.The room reportedly groaned. Employees flooded Slack channels with anger and disbelief, with one writing, “It’s hard to believe this company still has values when you make completely off-base jokes about ICE in your opening keynote.”The backlash was swift. In a channel called #airing-of-grievances, one employee posted a meme asking “Are we the baddies?” while others questioned whether any apology could undo the damage. Several employees told outlets they were “furious,” with one describing the mood as employees going “absolutely apeshit” on internal channels.