It used to take a couple of days for someone to lose their job for making offensive comments online. On Monday, we proved that it can be done within a matter of hours.
Fifty-eight people were killed this weekend at a country music festival in Clarke County, Nevada, and hundreds more were injured.
A former CBS legal executive, Hayley Geftman-Gold, responded to the deadly attack by suggesting on social media that the victims got what they deserved.
“If they wouldn’t do anything when children were murdered I have no hope that Repugs will ever do the right thing,” she said in a note on Facebook, likely in reference to the Sandy Hook massacre. “I’m actually not even sympathetic bc country music fans often are Republican gun toters.”
The Daily Caller was the first to pick up her comments, and things went downhill from there. And by “went downhill from there,” we mean Geftman-Gold was fired in a matter of hours by CBS.
The network wasted no time responding to news of her remarks, and announced in a statement they had let her go.
“This individual, who was with us for approximately one year, violated the standards of our company and is no longer an employee of CBS,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Her views as expressed on social media are deeply unacceptable to all of us at CBS. Our hearts go out to the victims in Las Vegas and their families.”
Geftman-Gold’s remarks were indeed outrageous, but what’s particularly interesting is how much we’ve streamlined the process of someone being fired for saying something obnoxious online.
It used to take a few days for the eventual pink slip. But a few hours? That’s impressively quick.
Also, as a closing side note, it’s worth mentioning Geftman-Gold’s comments this weekend are only barely the worst thing that someone formerly employed by CBS has said this year about a mass shooting. Honestly, her remarks are only marginally worse than when former anchor Scott Pelley suggested this summer that Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., sort of had it coming when a gunman nearly killed him during congressional baseball practice.
“It’s time to ask whether the attack on the United States Congress, yesterday, was foreseeable, predictable and, to some degree, self-inflicted,” the former anchor mused, clearly impressed by the sound of his own voice.
He added, “Too many leaders, and political commentators, who set an example for us to follow, have led us into an abyss of violent rhetoric which, it should be no surprise, has led to violence.”
If nothing else, blaming the shooting victim deserves some points for creativity.
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An earlier version of this story stated incorrectly that Hayley Geftman-Gold worked specifically for the CBS News division. She did not.
