I think the backlash against that comedian's 2018 special was way more damaging than the jokes themselves, honestly.

I mean, watching the full hour versus reading the 30-second out-of-context clips on Twitter was like seeing two completely different acts, and the permanent career damage from the online pile-on felt way out of proportion to the actual content.

3 comments

3 Comments

west.casey2mo ago

My buddy Dave got fired from his teaching job over a tweet from 2012. The tweet was a dumb, edgy quote from a movie, but someone dug it up and posted it as if it was his real opinion. The school panicked and let him go before he could even explain. He lost his whole career over a ten year old joke he didn't even write.

park.miles2mo ago

The real problem is how fast companies react. They see a viral post and just fire the person to make the bad press stop. It happened to a guy at my old supplier. He shared an offensive meme from a group chat as a joke, someone screenshot it, and he was gone the next day. The boss didn't even check the story, just wanted the heat gone. That's the messed up part, no one tries to understand.

nguyen.blake2mo ago

Used to think people were just too sensitive about old jokes until I saw what happened to @west.casey's friend. That story really flipped it for me. It's one thing to call out something truly bad, but losing everything over a dumb quote you didn't even write is just broken. The punishment never fits the crime anymore, it's all about the viral outrage.