Alabama fan fired after tweeting he was 'glad' receiver struck female Tennessee fan

[Jackcrevol]

Weak move by the company, but that is how soft our society has gotten! What the guy said was distasteful but he don’t deserve to lose his livelihood.

This country better hope we never get invaded by one of the big 3 because they will roll thru us like Moses thru the Red Sea! The biggest advantage China has is our technology.

 

[Carp]

It's not cancel culture bc it's deserved. So cancel culture for you is anytime society says hey your employee is a dip **** and should be fired? Every time. And you are always against that huh? Stupid game you are playing.

I am against cancel culture in almost every single format imaginable. It's a plague on our society. Mob mentality is not healthy, and it never has been.

 

[Volstar65]

Most employers have policy that covers this sort of thing. Anything that harms their brand is not tolerated. Rightly so. I don’t like the cancel culture movement and shouldn’t be used because someone is born on the wrong side of the bed but this world is filled with hate and total disregard for our fellow man/woman. Who says something like that anyway? He has to be an idiot to plaster that on social media, but to feel that way about some innocent person, dude has some major demons.

 

[Carp]

Have you ever hired anyone? Unless you’re hiring for a government, social services, nursing/doctorate, etc type of position, you’re not going to go digging that hard. He’ll have 0 issue applying at Walmart.

I have hired lots of people actually. I've fired quite a few too. Never over something posted on social media though.

 

[Stephen Gray]

Most employers have policy that covers this sort of thing. Anything that harms their brand is not tolerated. Rightly so. I don’t like the cancel culture movement and shouldn’t be used because someone is born on the wrong side of the bed but this world is filled with hate and total disregard for our fellow man/woman. Who says something like that anyway? He has to be an idiot to plaster that on social media, but to feel that way about some innocent person, dude has some major demons.

Everywhere I’ve worked in the last decade plus has had some kind of social media policy and usually a blanket policy of not bringing bad attention to the company. Well, except for stints where I did independent contracting. Didn’t feel the need to have my own such policies so I could fire myself when I screw up. Good thing too.

 

[volfanhill]

I am against cancel culture in almost every single format imaginable. It's a plague on our society. Mob mentality is not healthy, and it never has been.

Ok this will be fun.

Your coworker comes out and says he's having klan rallies at his house. Keep working?

He says he's having NAMBLA meetings at home and the company finds out bc it's in the media. All good with you?

Not saying these are the same. I am saying it's stupid to think companies won't take aggressive stances when they realize they have a moron working for them. He supported violence. He's an idiot.

 

[YankeeVol]

Most employers have policy that covers this sort of thing. Anything that harms their brand is not tolerated. Rightly so. I don’t like the cancel culture movement and shouldn’t be used because someone is born on the wrong side of the bed but this world is filled with hate and total disregard for our fellow man/woman. Who says something like that anyway? He has to be an idiot to plaster that on social media, but to feel that way about some innocent person, dude has some major demons.

It’s been like that since the beginning of man kind.

 

[Stephen Gray]

Ok this will be fun.

Your coworker comes out and says he's having klan rallies at his house. Keep working?

He says he's having NAMBLA meetings at home and the company finds out bc it's in the media. All good with you?

Not saying these are the same. I am saying it's stupid to think companies won't take aggressive stances when they realize they have a moron working for them. He supported violence. He's an idiot.

Being employed is a privilege that employers should be able stop providing for whatever reasons they wish for the benefit of the business. Similarly the work you provide an employer is a privilege the employee provide to his company. The employee should likewise be able to stop doing so for any reason.

 

[Volstar65]

It’s been like that since the beginning of man kind.

Yeah. What is wrong with us?

 

[Carp]

Ok this will be fun.

Your coworker comes out and says he's having klan rallies at his house. Keep working?

He says he's having NAMBLA meetings at home and the company finds out bc it's in the media. All good with you?

Not saying these are the same. I am saying it's stupid to think companies won't take aggressive stances when they realize they have a moron working for them. He supported violence. He's an idiot.

We're clearly not talking about the same thing. If a coworker mentions that to me or if I were to find that on his social media, I surely do feel obligated to mention to my HR because we work for the same company.

I don't feel obligated to stalk a random's person's social media because of something they say online and then try to get them fired. That is cancel culture.

 

[Proud Army Wife]

I have hired lots of people actually. I've fired quite a few too. Never over something posted on social media though.

Fair enough. I haven’t either, but at some point trash has a way of filtering itself. You can be whatever you want, say whatever you want, but personally, condolence of violence against women is one of the things I draw the line at.

 

[Stephen Gray]

We're clearly not talking about the same thing. If a coworker mentions that to me or if I were to find that on his social media, I surely do feel obligated to mention to my HR because we work for the same company.

I don't feel obligated to stalk a random's person's social media because of something they say online and then try to get them fired. That is cancel culture.

I actually agree with you that it isn’t a good use of people’s time to be hunting down people who say things they don’t like just to get him fired. That said, once they did so it was completely reasonable for the company take action after it became a media disaster. I can understand not agreeing with people who go out of their way to find people who say disagreeable things with the intent to harm them. What I can’t see is blaming the guys company for it. He said the dumb thing and was unlucky enough to get the kind of attention that no one wants. Wouldn’t have happened had he not said the dumb thing though.

 

[volfanhill]

We're clearly not talking about the same thing. If a coworker mentions that to me or if I were to find that on his social media, I surely do feel obligated to mention to my HR because we work for the same company.

I don't feel obligated to stalk a random's person's social media because of something they say online and then try to get them fired. That is cancel culture.

What if I find out through stalking him on Facebook that he's having NAMBLA meetings?

The truth is, like most people, you do support cancel culture at some level. For you pedos meet it. Physical attacks on women don't. That's you.

What do you expect the company to do? Just be cool with the NAMBLA wife beating guy?

 

[volfanhill]

I actually agree with you that it isn’t a good use of people’s time to be hunting down people who say things they don’t like just to get him fired. That said, once they did so it was completely reasonable for the company take action after it became a media disaster. I can understand not agreeing with people who go out of their way to find people who say disagreeable things with the intent to harm them. What I can’t see is blaming the guys company for it. He said the dumb thing and was unlucky enough to get the kind of attention that no one wants. Wouldn’t have happened had he not said the dumb thing though.

Again 100%

 

[Carp]

I actually agree with you that it isn’t a good use of people’s time to be hunting down people who say things they don’t like just to get him fired. That said, once they did so it was completely reasonable for the company take action after it became a media disaster. I can understand not agreeing with people who go out of their way to find people who say disagreeable things with the intent to harm them. What I can’t see is blaming the guys company for it. He said the dumb thing and was unlucky enough to get the kind of attention that no one wants. Wouldn’t have happened had he not said the dumb thing though.

The company doesn't have much of choice at that point, I agree. I mean it wasn't so egregious that they would probably see much of a PR hit, but the negatives of keeping him probably outweighed the positives. And perhaps they were looking for a reason to fire him anyways.

 

[Sudden Impact]

The Company was probably looking for a reason to fire him before this incident

 

[happy-go_vol]

Did you just compare advocating for violence against women to tweeting a Bible verse? lmfao

Also, we live in a country where employment is at-will. I've seen people get fired for MUCH less than what that guy tweeted. I've seen coworkers get fired literally because the boss just doesn't like them anymore. In the US, employers don't have to give a reason unless you fall under an exemption. Still, some states have no exemptions. Also, if someone is stupid enough to put their real name and info on social media and act like a buffoon they kind of get what's coming to them.

You think I'm comparing the two? Do you not understand what a slippery slope is?

 

[AllVols]

I'm not crying for him.

 

[Carp]

What if I find out through stalking him on Facebook that he's having NAMBLA meetings?

The truth is, like most people, you do support cancel culture at some level. For you pedos meet it. Physical attacks on women don't. That's you.

What do you expect the company to do? Just be cool with the NAMBLA wife beating guy?

You're speaking in hypotheticals. I already mentioned I don't support cancel culture in almost every situation. Clearly that assumes that there are some scenarios when I would support it. Making a dumb statement online is not one of those situations.

When did I say physical attacks on women don't meet my standards?

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I find it useful to go back to the source from time to time, just to remind myself what we're actually talking about.

Here's the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There are actually several separate bits to the amendment, jumbled together. A bit about religion, a bit about the press, a bit about assembly, a bit about petitioning the government for redress. In short, parts of the amendment have nothing to do with this instance. So I highlighted the bit that does, so that we can isolate and focus on it:

Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.

That's it. That's how the 1st Amendment applies to the case of an idiot posting reprehensible things online in response to a thug hitting a co-ed.

Since Congress* clearly didn't make any law abridging this idiot's ability to speak out, we're done. Can put the First Amendment to the side, we passed that test. It has no further bearing on the issue.

Because what the First Amendment does NOT say is:

-- You can applaud or encourage violence without consequence;
-- You can keep your job even if your employer finds out you are a cretin;
-- The First Amendment is only about political speech;
-- You can insult others and use socially charged phrases without people judging you and responding in ways you don't like;
-- The internet is a consequence-free zone.

Some folks in this thread seem to think one or more of those things are true. None of them are.

So that's the First Amendment sorted.

Go Vols!



* The First Amendment actually applies beyond Congress to state and local government, as well. There's a somewhat complicated history behind that involving the 14th Amendment and a whole lot of Supreme Court cases back in time.

 

[WBO]

You just don't understand business. There is not a single rank and file employee who is more valuable than one regular customer. This person put something out on social media. Didn't have to do it, but chose to do it. Employer can't be sure whether this is going to cost him business and in many cases an offended customer never says anything but just doesn't buy from you again. Incredibly easy call here.

Do not understand people on social media who identify themselves and then made stupid statements.

"Cancel culture" is practiced by all sides and has been for decades. (You think not, try being an out-of-wedlock mother in small town Tennessee in the 60's. We had the head majorette of our HS band get pregnant in 1965. Was never seen in town again. That's being cancelled.)

But it's not automatically bad.

 

[WBO]

The Company was probably looking for a reason to fire him before this incident

Tennessee is an "at-will" employment state so they could fire him for any reason they want. They didn't need an excuse. You can fire someone for driving a Toyota pick-up truck when you like Fords. You can fire them for the "Don't Tread on Me" license tags on their trucks. (One of our clients told his employees that they could only have regular tags if they parked in his lot. He was so tired of his employees arguing.)

The only restrictions on that are that you can't fire someone for a statutorily defined discriminatory purpose, i.e. age, race, gender, religion, etc. Notice, speech isn't protected, as so well explained by VFL-82 in his post above.

Obviously if someone has an employment agreement you can only fire pursuant to the terms of the contract. But every cemployment ontract has a "for cause" provision allowing for quick termination and cause is usually defined broadly.

 

[Delmar]

Accountable for what exactly? What law did he break? Saying some dumb things in the internet isn't exactly new. People went out of there way to stalk his other social media pages and tagged his company to get him fired. It isn't like good company was keeping tabs on him.

This is cancel culture 101 and I don't support it in any way, shape, or form.

There is a choice to have some class and a choice to be a trashy POS. Everybody gets to pick. Way too many of the latter in this world IMO. And that includes this clown. Poor behavior has consequences and he deserved the door.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

I don't like alabama fans and yeah it's a really dick thing to say, but I don't want someone to get fired...

I understand being compassionate, up to a point. I favor the business that fired him. It's time employers make it clear that the increasing meanness, outright assaults, discourtesy, bigotry, and worse shouldn't be rewarded with wrist slaps or silence. Hit them where it counts to put a stop to this.

 

[BornAndRaisedVOL!]

The Company was probably looking for a reason to fire him before this incident

Kind of what I thought too. Very possible they've been looking for a reason and this fell into their laps. They looked, saw the post about hitting women, saw another with the N word, and said "that's a wrap."

The entire reason you interview someone for a job is to discern as much as possible about the person. Are they qualified? Will they be a good employee? Do you feel like they can be a part of a team? Do you see them being an asset or a liability? Most times, because there are so many polished BS'ers roaming the earth, it's very hard to discern everything that's important to know from an interview process. But if the person said something similar in the interview, you'd end the interview and not hire them.

So why is it different if the only thing that's different is that they initially slipped through the interview process and got the job? They eventually revealed who they are, and had they done that initially, you wouldn't have hired them and no one would have had the slightest problem with it. But because he did it after he was hired, people say it's cancel culture.