Danny Glover fired by MCI because of his political stance.

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Amused

If MCI disagrees with Danny's politics they have EVERY FVCKING RIGHT to end his role as their spokesperson.

Whiners need to realize that freedom of speech does NOT mean freedom from social consequence. People have the right to disagree with you, and refuse to associate with you.

There is no "dangerous precedent" here. In fact, if MCI was blocked from letting Glover go, THAT would be a dangerous precedent.

And finally, people have EVERY right to organize letter or call-in campaigns protesting something or someone.

See? This is what I mentioned in my first post in this thread

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Zrom999
Danny Glover can't shoot his mouth off but Joe Scarborough can. That is BS. Some jackass abusing freedom of the press to report his perverse opinions and passing it off as news to limit someone elses right to speek his mind freely. Danny Glover should beat that guy down for screwing him over... I know I would do just that if someone got me fired that way.

Scarborough's show is billed as editoral in nature, and not news. If he has to stop, we'd have to shut down every news channel and newspaper in the country.

Scarborough did NOT limit Danny Glover's rights. He simply informed people of what Glover said, stated his opinion of what he said, and gave out contact info for MCI for people who wanted to protest.

If Glover was a spokesperson for my company, he'd be gone. There is no way I'd have a representitive in an ad campaign who has pissed off a signifigant number of customers and potential customers.

 

[Medellon]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Amused

If MCI disagrees with Danny's politics they have EVERY FVCKING RIGHT to end his role as their spokesperson.

Whiners need to realize that freedom of speech does NOT mean freedom from social consequence. People have the right to disagree with you, and refuse to associate with you.

There is no "dangerous precedent" here. In fact, if MCI was blocked from letting Glover go, THAT would be a dangerous precedent.

And finally, people have EVERY right to organize letter or call-in campaigns protesting something or someone.

See? This is what I mentioned in my first post in this thread

Agreed.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Medellon
To those of you who are bent out of shape over the firing of Danny Glover because of what he said, did I hear the same being said about John Rocker? After all, like Glover, he was just exercising his right to Freedom of Speech.

BINGO!

Of course, you'll never hear them admit it...

 

[Amused]

Danny Glover called the president of the United States a racist, he blamed American policy for the murderous acts of September 11th, and he signed a petition comparing American soldiers in the Gulf War to 9/11 terrorists. He called America ?the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.? And most recently Mr. Glover signed a letter of support for Fidel Castro.

Now tell me, honestly. No matter what your political position was, would you want someone like this as your company spokesperson? Why the hell would you want a spokesperson who is actively alienating 50+% of your customer base?

And honestly, Glover has some serious issues. The man jumps on the race card faster than Jackson, Sharpton and the Simpson defense team put together.

 

[sandorski]

Well, in isolation this wouldn't be such a huge issue, but if you add in the Dixie Chicks, the Boss, Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, and others into the mix you begin to see something different. That being a campaign to silence opposition. At the least this is McCarthyism 2, at the worst Krystal Nacht non-violent style. It is a systemic labeling then ruining of those who dare speak opposition, a dangerous precedent.

What exactly is this document "supporting Castro" that he signed? In what context did he compare US soldiers to terrorists? Does anyone actually care what he said? Are these 2 charges just spins on rather innocuos statements?

 

[Zipp]

I already knew Glovers politicals views and I don't agree with them and that's exactly what I told the salesperson who called and tried to get me to switch to MCI a few months back. I said get rid of him and maybe I'll consider your service....I guess they really do listen.

I've only seen Scarborough Country a few times and I didn't even know he was investigating Glover 's views.

Maybe the idiot can get a job on Hollywood squares.

 

[MrChicken]

Cardinal rule of sales: "Piss off no one."

You break that you usually get fired.

Would you buy anything from a person that:
calls somebody you admire a racist?
admires somebody you despise?
aligns themselves with people that you seriously dislike?

 

[charrison]

Not too long ago I remember reading about a similar effort to shut down Rush Limbaugh. I wonder if those outraged by by Glubber losing his job, would have been outraged if Limbaugh was looking for a new job.

 

[rahvin]

It's sad that there are so many people in this country that think I should respect the view of highschool dropouts. It's equally said that people think tollerance means accepting views that we find reprehensible. I tollerate their right to speak what they wish, I do not tollerate their views and if I find them disgusting enough I will choose to not purchase from them anymore. Boycotts are real threats and anyone trying to sell something has to be aware that if a spokesman has alienated half their target market then they probably shouldn't be their spokesmen.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Dari
MCI is the new/old name for WorldCom. The last thing they want is more publicity.

But the two media outlets that are mouthpieces of the right are no better than the likes of Jerry Springer; spouting sensationaslism, with a legion of lemmings doing their biddings. Fox News and MSNBC are in a race to the bottom.

While I believe that MCI can fire anyone (including Glover) for any reason that they want to, I agree with your opinion of the media. This was nothing but vengeful crap and and ratings-driven sensationalism from Scarborough, a tabloid journalist at best.

I hope CNN or the BBC never scoop to that level.

Too late, they just spout for the other side.

 

[Pliablemoose]

BFD, his album sales & concerts won't be hurt, it's probably good publicity for him, oh wait, that's the Dixie Chicks...

He needs to be Sharpton's running mate, he's got some pretty unpopular stances, If I was in charge of MCI, he'd have been gone some time ago...

From: investor@wcom.com
To: *********@*********
Subject: Re: Does Worldcom endorse this?
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 09:11:45 -0500

We're evaluating our position on this matter and we'll take all perspectives under careful consideration in the next few days.

Danny's personal political views were not known by us when he was hired for this work. In fact, coincident with our deal negotiation in November, Danny received the Marian Anderson Award which honors artists whose leadership benefits humanity.

Our consumer research indicated overwhelming support for Glover with extremely high appeal ratings. Our quantitative and qualitative research for these ads delivered extremely positive scores.

I sincerely regret the offense you feel with respect to our advertising campaign with Danny Glover.

Thanks for sharing your concern with us.


Lola McComb
Investor Relations
877-624-9266

 

[Bowfinger]

Oh well, I just got another $75 check from AT&T to switch my long distance. Must be time to take them up on their offer.

I am sick of these cowardly companies caving every time some self-righteous loudmouth gathers a mindless herd to send form letters. A pox on them all.

 

[MailBoxHead]

This guy is old and is probably just losing his marbles.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Next thing you know some neo-religeous right wing nutcase group will try to get the 'Moon and Stars'
removed from the Procter & Gamble product label - the one they used for over 100 years as some
demonic and Satanic symbology. No wait - they already did that number.
It's time to move on to the Constitution and those damn Witch supporting freedom issues.

Anyone look at Scarborough's political record & history ? Might just suprise you, don't look like St Joe to me.
There are a bunch of inconsistancies in his deciding not to run for a 5th term as the Republican Congressman
in Florida, the inproprieties in his divorce proceedings, and a dead office worker - found next to his desk,
quite Chandra Levy-ish, and vauge reportings of what happened, how, and to whom.
Don't need to link it, if you want to look it up - it's finadble, go for it.

 

[tinomen]

mrchicken:
agreed! of course being the spokesperson/salesman for a company comes with some
catches. mainly that you're not going to piss a whole lot of people off by what you do/say.
for now.....it might be that many americans woulnd't agree with what mr. glover did
(for now). therefore, mci has a right to remove him. [it's ok; i don't think danny needs
mci. :]
the problem i have is this: high-profile news organizations giving a soapbox to people
like scarborough. if you watch his show for even a few minutes, you realize that a lot
of his agenda is rah-rah...let's support the conservative right this....let's try to get
people to like rumsie that.....etc.
sure you have a right to your opinion, but i would prefer to see some balance and not
just make it like a "us-against-them, if you support liberal/pro-worker causes, you suck".
that's all i'm saying.

 

[Zrom999]

If your going justify people be singled out and punished for their beliefs/opinions by persons with greater influence you might as well find Saddam Hussein and put him in charge. He had the same policy: Go with the flow or get run over.

 

[Vadatajs]

This all reminds me of political bosses in the 1890's. I'm glad to see everybody wants to go back to that situation

 

[mastertech01]

Next thing you know some neo-religeous right wing nutcase group will try to get the 'Moon and Stars'
removed from the Procter & Gamble product label - the one they used for over 100 years as some
demonic and Satanic symbology. No wait - they already did that number.
It's time to move on to the Constitution and those damn Witch supporting freedom issues

Yeah, like removing "under God" from the Pledge, Founding Fathers from school textbooks and the like...

 

[classy]

This is a tough one. While Glover sounded like a complete fool, I don't think you can go around and fire people for their personal beliefs, unless those beliefs could lead to physical harm or something. A lot of people disagreed with what we did. Hell we're still trying to find evidence to support what we did. This is also tough because despite our religous, racial, and cultural differences we are all first and foremost AMERICANS. I think the the proper thing that should have been done was not to renew his contract or buy it out and part ways, but firing him was wrong and he'll probably win a court case. While he was again I believe wrong in what he said you can't fire him because of it.

 

[MrChicken]

Originally posted by: tinomen
mrchicken:
agreed! of course being the spokesperson/salesman for a company comes with some
catches. mainly that you're not going to piss a whole lot of people off by what you do/say.
for now.....it might be that many americans woulnd't agree with what mr. glover did
(for now). therefore, mci has a right to remove him. [it's ok; i don't think danny needs
mci. :]
the problem i have is this: high-profile news organizations giving a soapbox to people
like scarborough. if you watch his show for even a few minutes, you realize that a lot
of his agenda is rah-rah...let's support the conservative right this....let's try to get
people to like rumsie that.....etc.
sure you have a right to your opinion, but i would prefer to see some balance and not
just make it like a "us-against-them, if you support liberal/pro-worker causes, you suck".
that's all i'm saying.

IMHO, I see nothing wrong with his show. Conservatives have listened to liberal "news" personalities and "media" personalities rant about the evils of religion and morality for as long as I remember watching TV (much of which I agree with, btw). Liberals have had no problem with boycots, civil disobediance, etc to voice their protests, I find it humerous to see them cry foul now the other side has found its voice. What a great country the US is, in many places the two sides would be killing each other over this sort of thing.

TV news is a business, and it is up to those business to run their business as they see fit. The market dicates their programming. The reason Scarborough and people like O'Reilly are on TV is that somebody at the newtorks thinks they can make the network money.

Bottom line is that if you dont like the show, dont watch it, call and write the owners, boycott the advertisers and force a change if you want to. Let MSNBC know how you feel.

It's interesting that you want balance, and many would point to Scarborough and say that MSNBC is finally getting some balance....

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: classy
This is a tough one. While Glover sounded like a complete fool, I don't think you can go around and fire people for their personal beliefs, unless those beliefs could lead to physical harm or something.

Wrong. Glover was acting as a spokesperson for a company. They relied on his popularity to advertise their product. By voicing an opinion that polarized the public, he put MCI's image at stake. His beliefs and the way he voiced them could have caused (and probably did cause) MCI very real financial harm. If you're making my company lose business, you better believe I can fire you.

I think the the proper thing that should have been done was not to renew his contract or buy it out and part ways, but firing him was wrong and he'll probably win a court case. While he was again I believe wrong in what he said you can't fire him because of it.

Unless he had a contract with them that had a severance clause in it, they can fire him at any time.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Well, in isolation this wouldn't be such a huge issue, but if you add in the Dixie Chicks, the Boss, Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, and others into the mix you begin to see something different. That being a campaign to silence opposition. At the least this is McCarthyism 2, at the worst Krystal Nacht non-violent style. It is a systemic labeling then ruining of those who dare speak opposition, a dangerous precedent.

OH BS. This is not government sponsered in any way. In this country there is the freedom of association. You do not have to associate with, like, buy the product of, or support the careers of those you do not agree with.

Tell me, if you found out your local gas station was a front for the KKK, would you continue doing business there? No? FASCIST! McCARTHYITE!

See how that works?

 

[CaptnKirk]

The main point that some aren't getting = is that someone is paying big bucks to put him on the air,
salaries, showtime, etc., and he's shilling to that right wing 10% - 20 % that identify with his
conservative views and positions - and good for them, they get what they deserve.

What breaks the balance line is when he calls for that very vocal minority - that same 10% -20% population to
lobby in force - by his political command, and demand the removal of another American Citizen by pressuring
the company that pays him with threats, by bringing up the Patriot issue, and turning a high dollar press
core loose on somone to deface thier image because their views did not agree with the message.

Where else but from his press core have you heard these allegations of what Glovers politics are.
Glover has been a political activist for quite a while, but it seems that his Anti-Iraq War combined with
the Anti-Bush stacne is being amplified by Joe Scarface's press core. I went looking for all those
nasty things he said and did - found them only from the Scar's press machine.
If they are there that blatently, not authored by Scar's people show me, I got tired of looking.

It's really not that much different from the attacks launched against Clinton, Gore, Daschle,
and any other persons that fall outside the colective mindset.

 

[Zebo]

Is'nt he getting too old for this sh1t?

MCI has the right to fire him (for anything).
Danny Glover has the right to say what he wants (about anything).


But I am disturbed by the unwillingness for the public to hear alternative viewpoints. Back in 94 or 5 when RUSH did Pizza Hut ads. no one complained to much.