I Think He Got A Raw Deal

I read an article online that kinda bothered me.  A public relations manager for the NBA team the Golden State Warriors was fired last week for something that I (and millions of others) are guilty of doing.  He was fired for forwarding an email.  This wasn't just any email; it was the Ghetto Prom pictures email. In case you're one of the few people that didn't get this email last spring during prom season, the email is a collection of 17 photographs of African American high school kids at their proms.  Most of the girls in the pictures are scantily clad in their supposedly formal attire.  According to the article, the guy forwarded this email to over 100 newspaper reporters, columnists and sports editors.  The guy apologized and said that he meant to send the email to his wife.  Riiiiight.

Yes, I agree with the guy's employer - he shouldn't have sent the email in a mass emailing, but I don't think the guy should have been fired for it.  If this is going to set a precedent, then I known quite a few upper-management people and executives that should be squirming right now - not for sending out an offensive email like the one in question, but for forwarding hoax emails about missing children and free gift certificates. 

Granted, the email was not pornographic or obscene - criteria listed in employee handbooks everywhere, warning us what we can and cannot send in company emails.  The Ghetto Prom has become an internet staple right up there with Elf Bowling.  The pictures in the email are not hidden-camera shots.  The kids posed for the pictures, and you can see how they put alot of effort and pride into their outfits and hairstyles.  If these kids are happy about their prom pictures, then good for them.

But it wasn't the photos in the email that were the problem - it was the inappropriate comments that someone had added to the photos.  We don't know if this guy added the comments or if the comments were already in the email when he received it.  At any rate, the guy made a huge mistake, and with one click of the mouse, his career imploded.  Now he's looking for a job.  Finding one won't be easy with that blunder on his resume.  But the guy does have one thing going for him:  I bet he never does anything like that again.