The CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick is stepping away from Donald Trump's Business Advisory Council, in an attempt to put some distance between Uber and Trump's order to ban entry to people from seven predominantly-Muslim countries that proved offensive to so many.

The New York Times got ahold of an internal email that Mr. Kalanick sent to Uber workers:  "Earlier today I spoke briefly with the president about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community," the Uber chief wrote, "I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council.  Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that."

Kalanick joined Trump's council in December, and was intending to meet with him regularly.  But last month's executive order threw mud all over that.  As US border patrol agents prevented babies, toddlers, and grandparents from entering the US - many holding valid travel documents - protests grew at airports across the US.  At one point, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance called on drivers to boycott the airport in solidarity with the people being barred from America's front door. 

At that point, Uber sent out a tweet saying it had dropped surge pricing - and that led protesters to believe that the company was trying to profit from the situation.  That, coupled with Kalanick's involvement with Trump's Business Advisory Council sparked an online protest - thousands of people cancelled their Uber accounts and deleted the app.  Ride share rival Lyft put additional pressure on Uber by casting itself as the good guy with a promised US$1 Million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Although many Uber workers believed the company was unfairly maligned, they weren't thrilled with all that Trump stuck on their boss's shoe, getting tracked all over the carpet.  "What would it take for you to quit the economic council?" at least two employees asked at a high level meeting earlier this week.